that stir you to show your gratitude by doing what is pleasing in his sight?

Certainly you are not showing appreciation if you treat God’s Word and his instructions indifferently. When your employer or some other person of authority speaks, you listen attentively, getting instructions straight so as to do what he wants. Is that not so? Well, then, how much more should you be interested in pleasing the Supreme Sovereign of the universe, Jehovah God! Do you think that he will be pleased with you if you indifferently put off studying his Word?

Perhaps you used to have a weekly Bible study in your home. What caused you to discontinue it? Are you too tired at night to listen to God’s Word? Is it because watching television or doing something to please yourself is more important to you? Did you decide that serving God demanded too much, that giving up worldly habits and ways condemned by God’s Word was too great a sacrifice?

But, honestly, would you not surmount these obstacles to please someone that you truly loved? Certainly you would! How tired would a young man have to be for that tiredness to prevent him from seeing the woman he loved? You can be sure that he would not even allow overtime work or a favorite television program to interfere with his spending some time with her.

Well, then, if you truly love God and his Son Jesus Christ, you will not allow such things to prevent you from studying the Bible and obeying the instructions therein. “If you love me,” Jesus said, “you will observe my commandments.”—John 14:15.

ASSUMING RESPONSIBILITIES

Observing the commandments of Jesus and his Father Jehovah means that you will assume responsibility as a mature Christian man or woman. You will not only listen to the Word of God, having a regular Bible study in your home, but you will also ‘become a doer of the word.’ (Jas. 1:22-25) The truth that you learn will have a beneficial effect on your life, motivating you to do good works that will be a praise to Almighty God.

Yet some hold back. Why? Because they want to avoid the responsibility. Is this true in your case? Do you study the Bible in your home with Jehovah’s witnesses, but fail to put into practice what you hear? If so, stir yourself to activity. Do not remain babes spiritually who, the apostle Paul said, “need milk, not solid food.” But, rather, ‘through use train your perceptive powers to distinguish both right and wrong.’ Yes, heed the apostolic encouragement to “press on to maturity, not laying a foundation again.”—Heb. 5:12-6:3.

Is it not apparent that the true worship of God requires activity? So it should be evident, then, that a weekly Bible study in your home is not an end in itself. Rather, it is to equip you to serve God, enabling you to worship Him in the way he approves. This worship not only involves living a moral life, but it means taking an active part in sharing with yet other persons the life-giving information you have received. This requires effort, but, chief of all, it requires love. For remember: “This is what the love of God means, that we observe his commandments.”—1 John 5:3.

“Every Christian’s Obligation”

A Handbook of Christian Theology observes concerning early Christians: “In the little company of Jesus and his friends there was no division into clergy and laity . . . the disciples, who might look from here like laymen, were really the preachers . . . There were leaders and teachers and special spokesmen, of course. But they did no more than show or set the direction of every Christian’s obligation.”