GOOD CONDITION OF HEART

21. (a) How are God’s servants experiencing a good condition of heart? (b) Explain how joy in God’s service can be lost.

²¹ Through the prophet Isaiah, Jehovah foretold: “My own servants will cry out joyfully because of the good condition of the heart.” (Isa. 65:14) Throughout the world today, the relatively few persons who are serving Jehovah God are experiencing that good condition of heart. Their hearts are not embittered by racial or political differences. Their hearts have not been made bad by the world’s moral breakdown. Their hearts are not soured by atheistic philosophy or false religious beliefs. The upbuilding truths of God’s Word, his righteous laws, his comforting promises for the future, and the work of love that he has given them to do give them a good condition of the heart. But it is up to each individual to maintain that good condition. If one permits a wrong mental attitude to develop toward any feature of his service to God, he can lose the joy of that service and his good heart condition can begin to deteriorate. It was with good reason, therefore, that God’s Word warned: “More than all else that is to be guarded, safeguard your heart.” (Prov. 4:23) Maintaining a good mental attitude, with keen appreciation and enthusiasm for Jehovah’s truths and purposes, is important to safeguarding good heart condition.

22. Of what is joy a fruit, and how is this made evident?

²² The joy that is felt by those who have a good heart condition is actually evidence that God’s spirit is operating through them, for joy is one or the fruits of the spirit mentioned in the fifth chapter of Galatians. God puts his spirit upon those who serve him, those who give him exclusive devotion. It operates upon his modern-day witnesses, causing them to do a tremendous, worldwide work of proclaiming the same liberating truths that were proclaimed by the apostles. Operating directly upon them as well as through God’s Word and organization, the holy spirit helps them to build up a good condition of heart, and it helps them to get motivated into the public proclaiming of Jehovah’s purposes. Thus the joy a person cultivates as a result of this is actually a fruit of the spirit.

23. What should you permit God to do to you by means of his spirit?

²³ If you are one of those rare persons that wants to serve the Creator today, that wants to give him exclusive devotion, that wants to do work that is pleasing in his eyes, that wants to receive his approval and his gift of life, then let Jehovah, by means of his spirit, cultivate in you the good condition of heart that is a mark of his people. Open your heart to his instructions. Let them develop a right mental attitude in you toward his service. Let the good news of his Word and its life-transforming truths stir you to cultivate the distinctive joy that can be found in serving the Great God of the universe.

Anger Is Dangerous

According to Dr. J. A. Schindler’s book How to Live 365 Days a Year, “The heart rate goes up markedly during anger, often to 180 or 220, or higher, and stays there until the anger has passed. The blood pressure rises markedly and steeply from a normal of 130 or so to 230 or more. This is a manifestation that often produces dire results.” Clearly, those who heed the Bible’s counsel to “let anger alone and leave rage” and to cultivate the fruits of the spirit are wise.—Ps. 37:8; Gal. 5:22, 23.