Something Others Do Not Have
IS THERE something in life that you cherish and that not many others have? Perhaps the affection of a marriage mate or a child? Outstanding talents? Or is it robust health? Keen eyesight? Knowledge of several languages? Or a rich and varied background? Any one of these things is a blessing indeed to those who know how to turn it to lasting benefit to themselves and others. Few could truthfully say that they enjoy all these prized things.
To some people, however, comes an opportunity when some special job, one’s qualifications for the job and the ripe time to do the job coincide. To such as are blessed with such a circumstance, it could with greater force be said that they have something others do not have.
In the sphere of spiritual things lie the greatest and most rewarding opportunities. Consider, for instance, those persons who in this critical time in history have shown themselves willing to become qualified to serve the interests of God’s established kingdom and to preach “this good news.” (Matt. 24:14) They have reached a time when opportunity to do this Kingdom preaching will soon close down. But there is still time, and they readily accept a special assignment. Surely they have something others do not have.
Stressing this very matter of having spiritual privileges that others do not have, the Watch Tower Society’s president, N. H. Knorr, speaking to the 102 students of the 44th graduating class of the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead, on September 10, offered some excellent parting admonition. The place was Jehovah’s Witnesses Assembly Hall in New York city with 2,069 persons in attendance. Here are a few of his remarks:
“You students are actually living in a most wonderful time. You are able to have something others do not have. You are living in the ‘last days’ of this system of things. You are living at the time when the good news of God’s established kingdom must be preached before the end of this system of things comes. You 102 students, out of the more than three thousand million people living on earth today, have something others do not have. Nor will they ever get it, for we are too far along in the life of this system of things. In good time you offered yourselves willingly. You have said, ‘Here I am! Send me.’
“You have before you a unique privilege of service—to get out to a foreign field and preach the good news and open up new lands right on down to the end of this system of things. You are being sent to thirty-four different lands. Your service to Jehovah God is because you love him and want to serve him. You love him with all your heart, soul and strength. You have something not many others have—the opportunity of going to the ends of the earth to preach the Kingdom. Jesus foretold this would be done, and we are happy that you offered yourselves at the acceptable time. Hold on to this privilege of service; make a success of it and Jehovah will bless you.”
What a fine spirit of willingness the graduates of Gilead School have shown! It is something not many have today. In offering themselves for this service they did not first ask, ‘What are the living conditions in those missionary fields?’ No, for they put the doing of God’s will ahead of material comforts. Do you feel that way? Is your faith that strong? What are you doing to increase your privileges of serving God? Do you have the spirit of the prophet Isaiah, who said: “Here I am! Send me”?—Isa. 6:8.
Those 102 students were not novices. They did not offer themselves out of a mere desire for adventure. They were all experienced preachers of the good news, the group averaging 10.4 years of dedicated service. They have steadily progressed, and now, in accepting a missionary assignment, they have taken another big step forward.
Illustrative of their experiences is that of one young man from El Salvador who, at the age of ten, submitted to baptism in symbol of his dedication to God. At twelve years of age he was assigned an isolated area in which to preach, where he made excellent progress and aided others to become servants of God. Now, in 1967, at the age of twenty-four, he is ready to proceed to a missionary assignment in Honduras after twenty weeks of special missionary training. He surely has something that others do not have.
Not all Christians can be missionaries, it is true. But do you have the spirit of the missionary, this willingness to seize opportunities to enlarge the scope of your service of God’s kingdom? What are you doing with a view to enjoying eventually privileges and spiritual treasures that others do not have? Can you offer yourself for full-time preaching in your own city or country?
Of course, all who have stepped out and followed the example of the Lord Jesus Christ, even though unable to engage in full-time preaching activity, have come to possess something that others do not have. Consider the matter of peace and unity, for example. In this connection, those attending the graduation of this 44th class of Gilead School heard something interesting from F. W. Franz, vice-president of the Watch Tower Society, about his recent visit to Bible lands. He told about a unique international assembly of Christian witnesses in the old section of Jerusalem, August 6. Against a background of international hatreds intensified by the recent Arab-Israeli war, Jehovah’s Christian witnesses of Jewish and Arab descent met peacefully to hear the Word of God discussed. Discourses were translated into Arabic and Hebrew. The entire audience of 176 persons certainly enjoyed something that their neighbors do not have.
What they have is what those 102 graduates of Gilead want to share with others as they spread out to the ends of the earth! Wherever they go, they will find this incomparable peace, love and unity among those who have already accepted the message of God’s kingdom, and they will be instrumental in bringing it to multitudes of persons who long to know God and to learn how to please him. Yes, those missionaries have something that others do not have.