“To him that conquers . . .” This is coupled with the word “endurance,” occurring several times in these messages, together with such expressions as: “Prove yourself faithful even to death,” and “keep on holding fast.” To hold fast and endure and conquer decidedly calls for a strong personality. This is not a matter of outward show, but there must be a fixed determination, arising out of a deep appreciation and love for Jehovah, a wholehearted resolve to live for him and do his will. Christ Jesus, who always delighted to do his Father’s will, set the perfect pattern, and it is God’s will that we should be “patterned after the image of his Son.” This also means in God’s image, as again Paul said: “Clothe yourselves with the new personality, which through accurate knowledge is being made new according to the image of the One who created it.” What does this mean in detail? Listen! “Clothe yourselves with the tender affections of compassion, kindness, lowliness of mind, mildness, and long-suffering. . . . But, besides all these things, clothe yourselves with love, for it is a perfect bond of union.” Strong-minded, yes, but there is no room here for being domineering. It is a question of having the right motive.—Rev. 2:7, 10, 13, 19; 3:11; Rom. 8:29; Col. 3:10-14.

13. (a) How can we acquire a godly personality? (b) In this respect, how is Paul a good example?

¹³ It is only through an accurate knowledge of the Scriptures that we can appreciate and acquire the proper balance and fine contrast of the various qualities and characteristics that make up a godly personality. The apostle Paul himself serves as a good illustration. Before he became a Christian he was certainly dynamic, but, being blind to the truth, he was off balance and, as he himself says, he was “a blasphemer and a persecutor and an insolent man.” After getting his eyes opened, and for the rest of his life, he was still dynamic, but with a different motive, and now beautifully balanced, as shown by what he writes to the Thessalonians: “We became gentle in the midst of you, as when a nursing mother cherishes her own children. So, having a tender affection for you, we were well pleased to impart to you, not only the good news of God, but also our own souls, because you became beloved to us.” Ah! yes, there is the difference. He was now motivated by the spirit of unselfish and loving devotion.—1 Tim. 1:13; 1 Thess. 2:7, 8.

14. How can our personality be remade in God’s image?

¹⁴ Whatever your former disposition, you need not be discouraged. The fatherly Creator who said to his Son: “Let us make man in our image,” can create in you a “new personality” in their image. How? By the transforming influence of God’s spirit, the “force actuating your mind,” and through the influence of the written Word. The more you realize and are convinced that the entire Bible is of single, divine Authorship, the more you will appreciate the grand personality of its Author, Jehovah. In turn, that will help you to “put on the new personality . . . created according to God’s will in true righteousness and loyalty.”—Gen. 1:26; Eph. 4:23, 24.

Communism and Church Failure

In a speech to a Methodist convention in 1962 Bishop John Owen Smith deplored the failure of the church. He asserted that “communism came into being because Christianity dropped its cross, didn’t want to do the difficult, but just sang its songs and said its prayers.”—The News and Courier, Charleston, S.C., July 30, 1962.