23. What are the two greatest commandments, and if we are loyal to them what is the result? and what should we do to be approved of God?

²³ “Jesus answered: ‘The first is, “Hear, O Israel, Jehovah our God is one Jehovah, and you must love Jehovah your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul and with your whole mind and with your whole strength.” The second is this: “You must love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these.’” (Mark 12:29-31, NW) This means devoting all to Jehovah; and it cannot be concluded that as long as one loves Jehovah he is at liberty to hurt others, for the second commandment must be obeyed, and no one can love God and at the same time hurt his neighbor. James named this “the kingly law”. Where Scriptural responsibilities toward our families are few, those dedicated to Jehovah should question if they are giving fullest expression in service. We are not commanded to love Caesar with all our strength, and it is impossible to give all our love and strength to Jehovah and to Caesar at the same time. Because of possible demands upon our time and strength by others than Jehovah, trials will come, and each one must decide whom he will obey first. Perhaps you will be instructed to perform some act which would mean disobedience to the “kingly law” according to the scripture, “You must love your neighbor as yourself.” (Jas. 2:8, NW) Question yourself: Would you hurt yourself in such a way? If not, then you must obey God first. Your loyalty to Jehovah and his law will give you a clear and clean conscience and bring you reward. Jehovah’s laws are universally supreme. Demands will be made upon the brothers because of emergency situations and dire circumstances, but always keep in mind that no situation could possibly cancel your primary responsibility to the all-powerful, almighty and all-wise Creator. Loyalty is on test. Obey God first and trust in him completely and the result will be right, whereas if you give way to disloyalty the outcome, so far as you are concerned, will be disastrous. Meditate upon God’s Word and will, and then act accordingly. Listen to Jehovah’s great Prophet, Christ Jesus, and you will live.

Fiji Island Youth Remembers Creator

“REMEMBER now thy Creator in the days of thy youth,” counsels the wise man at Ecclesiastes 12:1. That following this counsel will bring not only dividends in the future but also present blessings is apparent from the following written by a sixteen-year-old miss, who is a full-time minister of Jehovah in the Fiji Islands:

“The other week while witnessing on the street, I noticed two nuns watching me from a distance. After a while they came over to me and one of them said: ‘Young girl, aren’t you ashamed to stand there selling books?’ I asked her what I was to be ashamed of, and she said, ‘Why the people in general.’ I told her, ‘No, we keep in mind the words of the apostles. We fear no man, but only God, and we are his witnesses. There is no doubt about his being behind us at all times. If we knew that this was not the right work and had no faith in what we preached, then we would have reason to feel shame. That is why no other religion does this work. They fear man, and honor Jehovah only with their lips.’

“She then asked me how we knew that we were God’s people. I pointed to Isaiah 43:10, AS. ‘Ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah.’ ‘But how do you know that this scripture applies to you people?’ she next asked. ‘By the fact that this scripture has been in the Bible for more than nineteen centuries and no other religion has taken it up. No doubt they are ashamed to bear such a name.’

“‘You have answered my questions to my satisfaction,’ she then said. ‘I wish Catholic girls would stick up for the church. You certainly know what you are talking about, my dear.’ She patted me on the shoulder and said a surprising thing, ‘Keep up the good work!’ I hope I shall see her again.

“A few Sundays back a Fijian nurse attended our meetings and asked me to help her to study the Bible. We arranged for a study the following Sunday. I went up that morning, and imagine my surprise when I saw, not only her, but also 39 of her friends there, all wanting to learn more about the Vola Taku (Bible or Sacred Book). Of course, we did not have enough textbooks to go around and they all asked me to bring copies of ‘Let God Be True’ the next time I came.

“During the study the hospital matron came to see what was going on; she wondered why everything was so quiet, as usually the nurses are quite noisy. When she saw their Bible she nodded and smiled. After the study I called on her and explained our work. She was very nice and said she would like to see me the following week.

“I went back to the hospital to have a study with another nurse who worked in a different ward. The nurse went to the matron to ask time off, as she was on duty just then. The matron came back with her and stayed for half of the study, leaving only because duty called. Who knows, maybe she is a person of good will? Time will tell.”