You probably would not think of fear as an important quality for a good friendship. However, those who want to have a close friendship with Jehovah must “fear him.” No matter how long we have been serving Jehovah, all of us need to maintain a healthy fear of him. But what does it mean to fear God? A person who has a proper fear of God loves Him and does not want to do anything that would damage his relationship with Him. Jesus had such “godly fear.” (Heb. 5:7) He did not feel a morbid dread of Jehovah. (Isa. 11:2, 3) Instead, he felt a deep love for him and wanted to obey him. (John 14:21, 31) Like Jesus, we feel deep respect and awe for Jehovah because He is loving, wise, just, and powerful. We also know that Jehovah loves us and is affected by how we respond to his guidance. We can either make Jehovah feel pain or make his heart rejoice.​—Ps. 78:41; Prov. 27:11. w23.06 14 ¶1-2; 15 ¶5

When King Uzziah became powerful, he forgot that Jehovah was the Source of his strength and prosperity. What is the lesson? We do well to remind ourselves that our blessings and privileges come from Jehovah. Rather than boast about our accomplishments, we should give Jehovah the credit for what we are able to do. (1 Cor. 4:7) We must humbly realize that we are imperfect and need discipline. A brother in his 60’s wrote: “I have learned not to take myself too seriously. When I receive discipline for the childish mistakes that I sometimes make, I try to get back up and keep moving forward.” The reality is that when we fear Jehovah and keep a humble view of ourselves, our life will turn out well.​—Prov. 22:4. w23.09 10 ¶10-11

The early Christians needed to endure. Besides dealing with problems common to all people, they faced additional trials. Many of them were persecuted, not only by Jewish religious leaders and the Roman authorities but also by their own families. (Matt. 10:21) And within the congregation, sometimes they had to fight the influence of the apostates and their divisive teachings. (Acts 20:29, 30) Yet, those Christians endured. (Rev. 2:3) How? They reflected on Scriptural examples of endurance, such as Job. (Jas. 5:10, 11) They prayed for strength. (Acts 4:29-31) And they focused on the good results of their endurance. (Acts 5:41) We too can endure if we regularly study examples of endurance in God’s Word and in our publications and meditate on them. w23.07 3 ¶5-6