Moral Values That Truly Enrich

VALUES WE CAN TRUST

Bible values give evidence that they were tailor-made for humankind.  Consider just a few examples-the qualities of love, kindness, generosity, and honesty. 

Love for others

"If you have learned to love, then happiness will surely knock on your door," says the book Engineering Happiness-A New Approach for Building a Joyful Life. Clearly, as humans, we need love.  Without it, we cannot be truly happy.

WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS: "Clothe yourselves with love, for it is a perfect bond of union." (Colossians 3:14)  The same Bible writer also said:  "If I . . .do not have love, I am nothing." -1 Corinthians 13:2. 

That love is neither sexual nor purely sentimental; it governed by principle. It is the kind of love that moves us to help a stranger in difficulty, with no thought of a reward. At 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, we read:  "Love is long-suffering and kind. [It] is not jealous, it does not brag, does get puffed up, does not behave indecently, does not look for its own interests, does not become provoked.  It does not keep account of the injury. It does not rejoice over unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, .  .  . endures all things." 

When families lack such love, everybody suffers, especially children. A woman named Monica wrote that as a child, she endured physical, emotional, and sexual abuse.  "I was unloved and without any hope," she said.  Then, when she was 15 years of age, she moved in with her grandparents who are Jehovah's Witnesses.  

"In the two years I lived with them," said Monica,  "they taught this shy girl to be outgoing and loving and to care for others. They helped me to become a respectable young woman."  Now happily married, Monica along with her husband and three children shows  love to others by sharing the Bible's message with them.

A particularly subtle enemy of love is materialism-the belief that material well-being and pleasure are the highest values. Yet, secular studies repeatedly show that beyond a surprisingly modest threshold, more wealthy does not bring more happiness.  In fact, people who adopt materialistic  values may actually be investing in unhappiness, a view that finds Biblical support.   Ecclesiastes 5:10. Tells us: "A mere lover of silver will not be satisfied with silver, neither  any lover of wealth with income.  This too is vanity." The Bible also states:  "Let your manner of life be free of the love of money."-Hebrews 13:5. 

Next time: Moral Values That Truly Enrich/VALUES WE CAN TRUST -Kindness and Generosity

From the jw.org publications