Consider What Jehovah Has Done for You
MANY people in this materialistic world try to shut God out of their lives. They say that they have no need for belief in God. But, whether they thank God or not, they benefit from his undeserved kindness every day of their lives.
What an abundance of good things God has provided for man’s enjoyment! To satisfy man’s hunger there is an almost endless variety of delicious fruits and vegetables and other foods. The Creator also provided abundantly for the satisfying of our emotional needs, our craving for beauty and for pleasure. He created birds and butterflies, sea and land animals, majestic mountains, hills and valleys, rivers and lakes, trees and colorful sunsets in endless variety. Think, too, about the delightful sounds of creation—the singing of birds, the rustle of leaves in the breeze, the ocean waves washing the shore.
And consider what God has done for you by endowing you with a marvelous body and brain! You are able to reason, to remember. You have a conscience to tell you the difference between right and wrong. You are able to conceive in your mind the existence of the Creator and to worship him though never having seen him. God also created us with an artistic sense, not only so that we can enjoy the natural beauties of the earth around us, but also so that we can take pleasure in the works of our own hands. Yes, we can delight in making and hearing beautiful music, in painting and viewing beautiful pictures.
What about life itself? To whom are we indebted for it? Do you think that you got life from your parents? You did. But where did the very first human parents get their life? From Jehovah God! Without life, we could do nothing. And for this most precious possession we owe thanks to God.—Rev. 4:11.
To aid us in learning about him, Jehovah God has given us his Word, the Holy Bible. It tells us what his glorious qualities are and what he has done for mankind. In the Bible, God also makes known his will for his earthly creatures, his laws and principles for man’s guidance. Have you taken the time to read it?
A man of old who appreciated what Jehovah God had done for him, as well as for all mankind, was the psalmist David. After describing many of the things that God had provided for man’s enjoyment, he exclaimed: “How many your works are, O Jehovah! All of them in wisdom you have made. The earth is full of your productions.” That man also appreciated the value of God’s Word and how it could influence one’s life for good. Concerning it, he wrote: “The law of Jehovah is perfect, bringing back the soul. The reminder of Jehovah is trustworthy, making the inexperienced one wise. The orders from Jehovah are upright, causing the heart to rejoice . . . The judicial decisions of Jehovah are true; they have proved altogether righteous . . . in the keeping of them there is a large reward.” (Ps. 104:24; 19:7-11) Do you have a similar appreciation of all that Jehovah has done for you, and do you give expression to that appreciation?
THE GREAT SUSTAINER
Not only did Jehovah God create the earth and living things upon it; he also sustains it, along with all the rest of the physical universe, making possible our continued existence on this earth. Thus his Son, Jesus Christ, stated: “Your Father who is in the heavens . . . makes his sun rise upon wicked people and good and makes it rain upon righteous people and unrighteous.” (Matt. 5:45) To the same effect the apostle Paul testified to the inhabitants of Lystra, in Asia Minor, that God “did not leave himself without witness in that he did good, giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts to the full with food and good cheer.” Because Jehovah God is the Sustainer as well as the Creator, the same apostle could say on a later occasion to the pagan philosophers of Athens that “by him we have life and move and exist.” This is a fundamental fact of life.—Acts 14:17; 17:28.
How very fitting, therefore, that God’s Word should repeatedly instruct us to praise and thank God for all his goodness toward us. Literally hundreds of times it tells us to do this, as, for example, at 1 Chronicles 16:8: “Give thanks to Jehovah, you people; call upon his name, make his deeds known among the peoples!” Do you ever give thought to heeding this command? Have you ever made it a point to tell other people what you know about Jehovah’s deeds?
PROVIDES DELIVERANCE AND SALVATION
Jehovah God has provided for the deliverance and salvation of humankind from sin, sorrow and death. This provision affects all of us. How did it come about that it was necessary for God to make such provisions for humankind? It was not God’s fault or because of any error or mistake on his part. Rather, as God’s Word tells, it was because our first parents failed to appreciate Jehovah’s goodness to them.—Gen. 2:16, 17; 3:17-19.
By their disobedience to the law of God, on whom their life depended, our first parents forfeited the right to life not only for themselves but also for all their offspring, since their children were born after they had transgressed. Adam and Eve could not transmit to their children what they themselves did not possess. A human father who loses the title to his home, because of not making payments on the mortgage, cannot give it in his will to his children as an inheritance. Just so, Adam could not bestow upon his offspring the right to life that he had forfeited.—Rom. 5:12.
Therefore, it was not the fault of Adam’s offspring that they, including us, were all born sinners, born without the right to life. Accordingly, God sent his Son to the earth to sacrifice his perfect human life so as to ransom mankind and in this way make it possible to give the opportunity to live forever to any of Adam’s family who would exercise faith in this divine provision. At the same time, by this means Jehovah God would vindicate himself as being able to carry out his purpose to have a global earthly paradise filled with perfect people.
Concerning God’s love for humankind, his Word tells us: “For hardly will anyone die for a righteous man; indeed, for the good man, perhaps, someone even dares to die. But God recommends his own love to us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom. 5:7, 8) Jesus Christ, having God as his Father and not some imperfect human, had the right to life as a perfect man. By voluntarily laying down his human life he could use its value to benefit the human race, which had been deprived of the full enjoyment of life by Adam. The blessings and benefits of this provision are available to you if you exercise faith in Jehovah God and in Jesus Christ. As the Bible appealingly states: “God loved the world so much that he gave his only-begotten Son, in order that everyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) What are you doing with your life that demonstrates in a meaningful way your appreciation for this priceless provision?
THINGS JEHOVAH HAS DONE FOR HIS SERVANTS
The Scriptures show that Jehovah God pours out many of his material blessings upon all mankind, upon the good and bad alike, upon the undeserving as well as upon the deserving. But does he not take note of the difference between these two kinds of people and does he not do more for the deserving ones than he does for the undeserving ones? Yes; he watches over them and blesses their efforts to obtain life’s necessities. (Luke 12:29-31) But at this time he favors them primarily in a spiritual way. In this way he gives them what the rest of the world does not have—a consciousness of divine approval and a solidly based hope for the future. He works on the principle stated at Romans 8:28: “We know that God makes all his works cooperate together for the good of those who love God.”
Today there are more than one million eight hundred thousand happy persons who are enjoying a spiritual paradise. They have peace of mind and contentment, great happiness, a knowledge of Jehovah God and his purposes and a strong faith in his promise of a new order where righteousness will prevail and where, as Revelation 21:4 says, “death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore.” They dwell in peace and unity, and they have a high and noble purpose, that of showing others how they too can enjoy these blessings. Are you among those who enjoy this spiritual paradise? You can be.
Reflect on all that Jehovah God has done for you. As you do so, do you not feel moved to show your appreciation in a way acceptable to him? To help you to learn how to do so in a way pleasing to God, Jehovah’s witnesses have weekly meetings at their Kingdom Halls. Find out the location of the one nearest to you and visit it this week. You will be so glad that you did.