Giving Youth a Worthwhile Goal in Life
“WE APPRECIATE the invitation to contribute to your youth fund,” Fern told the caller at her Roswell, Georgia, home. “But we have budgeted all of our contributions to our own charitable cause, which includes a youth training program.”
“Congratulations!” the woman caller responded. “What is your organization?”
“Jehovah’s witnesses.”
“Oh—” the fund solicitor paused. “Yes, I know some of your people. You seem to solve your youth problems very well. How do you wake young people out of their apathy?”
“That,” admitted Fern, “can be a challenge. It is sometimes hard to convince them that there is something fine and noble and lasting to live for.”
Her visitor agreed, adding: “We feel that if we maintain a youth center we can at least provide them a place to meet and enjoy fellowship and recreation. That will keep them off the streets and—we hope—away from drug parties.”
“That is good,” Fern complimented. “But is it enough?”
“Of course not. Young people need ideals—something useful and inspiring to do with their lives. This is where we come to the real problem.”
“I know,” Fern sympathized. “We have found that the Bible offers the noblest incentives to young and old alike. For instance, Jesus said, ‘There is more happiness in giving than there is in receiving.’ (Acts 20:35) That is why our program encourages youths to share with others the heartwarming things they learn from our studies about God and his purposes.”
“But isn’t that simply too much to expect of youth?”
“No,” Fern disagreed. “A noble challenge is what young people need. Especially after learning that God will soon now ‘bring to ruin those ruining the earth,’ and usher in the righteous rule of his Kingdom government.”—Rev. 11:18; 2 Pet. 3:13.
Her caller shrugged her shoulders. “Well . . . anyone who is convinced that such a thing is for real can get carried away with it, I suppose.”
Need for a Personal Goal
As her caller left, Fern reflected on how vital it is to know God’s purposes and really to believe that he will carry them out. She thought of her husband’s efforts to help teen-agers—like Jimmy. At the time, he was eighteen years old and had just graduated from high school. One evening in the summer of 1973, she was present when her husband, Marley, asked:
“Have you found anything that wholly absorbs you, Jimmy?”
“Not really. I suppose I like camping. Boating. Swimming.”
Marley tried a new tack: “Do you have any ambition? Say in some worldly business or profession?”
“No.”
“So here you are. A high-school graduate. No career in mind. Apparently no girl friend. Raised in a family of dedicated Christians. Tell me. Did you ever face a problem so big that you spent a long time in prayer about it?”
“No.”
“By the way, do you pray?”
“Sometimes.”
“When you pray, do you feel it is a heart-to-heart, personal talk with your heavenly Father?”
“I suppose so.”
“Jimmy, I have to make a confession. Persons like you represent the hardest challenge I have ever run up against.” “What do you mean by that?”
“I mean the challenge of waking you up to the need for a personal goal in life. For instance,” Marley went on, “do you want to be a success?”
“I suppose so.”
“If you died tonight, would Jehovah God remember you and resurrect you?”
“I hope so.”
“Why should he?”
Appreciate Your Bible Knowledge
It was a hard question. Marley was trying to awaken Jimmy to the seriousness of having a fine relationship with God. He reminded him of his Christian upbringing nurtured on the clear Bible evidence that the end of this system of things will occur within this very generation. (Matt. 24:1-34; 2 Pet. 3:5-12; Rev. 21:1-4) He assured him: “Your appreciation of God’s Word goes deeper than you realize. For instance, read this at Ephesians chapter 4, verses 17 through 19.”
Jimmy took the Bible and read: “This, therefore, I say and bear witness to in the Lord, that you no longer go on walking just as the nations also walk in the unprofitableness of their minds, while they are in darkness mentally, and alienated from the life that belongs to God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the insensibility of their hearts. Having come to be past all moral sense, they gave themselves over to loose conduct to work uncleanness of every sort with greediness.”
“Reflect on some of these points, Jimmy. What does it mean that people of the world are in darkness mentally?”
“They don’t know God’s laws.”
“And why are they alienated from the life that belongs to God?”
“They’re not in line with God’s ways and purposes. They are immoral; they don’t appreciate right from wrong, in the Bible sense.”
“But do you?”
“To some extent.”
“Of course you do. Now, does this make you realize that you possess a very great and precious storehouse of spiritual knowledge? Spiritually, you are a rich young man. If a thousand people in our area had your knowledge of the Bible, how many of them could survive the end of this system, which the Bible warns them about?”
“All of them,” Jimmy replied, “if they acted on that knowledge.”
“Don’t you see the point? You have opportunities to help untold numbers of people to get life by sharing your knowledge with them. You simply have not become fired up enough to appreciate this.”
Indifference Does Matter
Jimmy drew a deep breath. “I know. That’s my problem.”
“How can we stir you to want to be a success?”
“I don’t know.”
Marley closed his eyes and bowed his head. “That’s what baffles me too. You have accepted your Christian training because that is all you have ever known at home. You have come along in the association and activities of Jehovah’s witnesses because your family and friends brought you along with them. Now what if we all dropped you? What would happen to you?”
“I might just drop out of the picture.”
“Do you wonder what Jehovah and his Son think of you?”
“Not much, I guess.”
“They tell you what they think. Read Revelation 3, verse 16.”
Jimmy turned obediently to the text and read: “So, because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of my mouth.”
“What is God’s Son calling you there?”
For the first time Jimmy was shaken. “A mouthful of something worth vomiting out.”
“That’s not complimentary. You must realize that Jehovah God is not going to give everlasting life to an indifferent person, one who does not truly appreciate God’s provisions for us.”—Heb. 10:28-31.
Nervously Jimmy tugged at a strand of unruly hair. “I never thought it was so serious. I don’t want to be disgusting to Jehovah and Jesus.”
“Well, then,” Marley pursued the point, “you can make their hearts glad.”
“How?”
“By praying to Jehovah to help you to recover from your indifference, and by acting in harmony with your prayers.”
How to Be a True Success
In an attempt to help his young friend to see what it is that really matters in life, Marley asked: “What would you say it means to be a true success?”
Jimmy thought. “Well, the world says success means to gain money, power, fame. To do something big.”
“In how many of those respects would you say that Jesus Christ was a success?”
“Not any,” Jimmy answered. But as he continued to think about it, he realized that Jesus had done the biggest, most important thing ever accomplished. He upheld his Father’s name under the severest tests, and gave his life as a ransom to recover the whole human family from condemnation to death. (Rom. 3:24, 25; John 3:16) And afterward Jesus himself said: “All authority has been given me in heaven and on the earth.”—Matt. 28:18.
“So Jesus won everything,” Marley stressed. “Wealth. Fame. Power. He won it all, but not in the world’s way. Now, if you and I want to be a success, to whom should we look? Say, we want to become famous. How would we go about it?”
“As Christ did, by becoming known in a favorable way by Jehovah God.”
“That’s right,” Marley beamed. “You just acknowledged that if a thousand people in our area had your Bible knowledge and acted upon it, they could survive the world’s end. So, what greater work could you do than to reach as many people as you can with the help that can save their lives?”
Jimmy confessed: “It is hard for me to appreciate that this is the way to be a true success in life.”
“Was it hard for Jesus to appreciate the fact when he was a man on earth?”
“No,” Jimmy admitted. “Even though he performed miracles and wonderful works, the main thing he did was teach the people about God.”
Marley tapped the arm of his chair with his knuckles for emphasis. “Reflect, now. When you go to the homes of people to teach them, what key quality of God are you putting into practice?”
“Love. Love of God and love of neighbor.”—Matt. 22:37-40.
“When you stand up in God’s own personal name and defend truth against error, why does that make Jehovah’s heart glad?”
“It proves that we are like Jesus in that we love righteousness and hate lawlessness.”—Heb. 1:9; Prov. 27:11.
“You see, all this and more takes place in the act of sharing your Bible knowledge with others.”
Doing What God Approves
The older man had thrown hard questions and the younger man had given sound answers. It proved, they both agreed, that spiritual knowledge had accumulated, but had lain dormant in the younger man’s mind. “But besides stimulating thinking, has this conversation stirred your emotions?” Marley asked.
“That part about being offensive to Jehovah and Jesus,” Jimmy replied quickly. “That bothers me. I’m going to do something about that.”
“What, for instance?”
“I want to dedicate my life to Jehovah.”
“By his water baptism Jesus symbolized the presentation of himself to do God’s will,” Marley reminded Jimmy. “To follow his example means that a Christian should be baptized too. But in dedicating your life to God, Jimmy, it is vitally important to know what his will is for you. That is why a review of the basic Bible teachings is recommended before baptism.”—Matt. 3:13-17; 28:19, 20.
“Will you review those questions with me?”
“Gladly!” Marley replied.
It was a thrilling moment, Fern recalled. A time was set for the review.
What she had told the lady caller that day is true; Jehovah’s witnesses do contribute their time, energy and resources to a worthy cause. That cause includes helping to give young people a worthwhile goal in life.—Contributed.