Strip Off the Old Personality if You Want to Live Forever

“Strip off the old personality with its practices, and clothe yourselves with the new personality.”—Col. 3:9, 10.

1, 2. What interesting points can be drawn from the illustration of productive and nonproductive trees?

A TRAVELER along a country road came upon what appeared to be an abandoned farm. Its owner was a lazy good-for-nothing God-dishonoring fellow. The fields were overrun with weeds and the orchards bore only diseased fruit unfit to eat or even pick. “What a sad and sickening sight!” groaned the stranger. However, upon rounding the bend in the road his depressed spirits were suddenly lifted as he came upon a very prosperous farm with fertile fields and lush orchards. Observing that every tree was loaded down with the finest fruit, the astonished traveler exclaimed: “Look! Here is lovely, living beauty, resembling that of Paradise!”

² In time the energetic farmer purchased his neighbor’s neglected orchard and began a reclamation program. He worked hard cutting out the deadwood, stripping off all the sucker branches, fertilizing the root systems and watching over and protecting the trees against disease and pestilence. In addition this God-fearing farmer gave thanks to his Grand Creator when the trees began to produce good fruit. People everywhere were struck with utter amazement as the fame of this spectacular transformation spread far and wide throughout the countryside. A wild orchard had been tamed through the hard work and watchful care of an industrious farmer whose efforts had been blessed by Jehovah!—1 Cor. 3:6, 7.

3. What change has occurred that is far more wonderful than the taming of an orchard?

³ Now, you may never have the opportunity of seeing such a radical change in a literal fruit-bearing orchard. But whoever you are, wherever you live or whatever language you speak, you only have to look around you to observe something far more wonderful taking place. For in reality this story of an orchard is only a small illustration of what is now occurring on a global scale in more than 190 countries and islands of the sea, among people speaking more than 160 different languages. Hundreds of thousands of these people are actually changing both their way of thinking and their conduct. They are transforming or making over the characteristics of their very personalities so they can live forever!

4. In what respects do Jehovah’s witnesses surprise many people?

⁴ These made-over personalities are known as Jehovah’s witnesses. Undoubtedly, in visiting with them when they call at your door, you have recognized that they are altogether different from other people in many respects, for example, their outlook on life, the way they talk and the things they say, the way they conduct themselves, and so forth. However, the really surprising thing is that at one time, maybe very recently, these individuals talked and acted just like other persons in your community. Then, upon becoming Jehovah’s witnesses, they developed entirely new personalities. Most amazing indeed!

5, 6. After looking at today’s world conditions, to what conclusions do you come?

⁵ How great this change in personality has been can be better appreciated by making a comparison. Look at your own community as a whole. What do you see? What kind of persons are the majority of those among whom you have to live and work? Is the kind of fruitage these personalities produce good or bad? If you are one who lives in a quiet little churchy town or village, where your neighbors are not an open threat to your life and property, you probably observe that individuals are often clannish and intolerant and very hypocritical in their way of living, especially toward outsiders and strangers. They often slander and backbite and are revengeful toward others. They are not immune to social and sexual immorality and loose conduct. Profanity, cursing and obscene talk are a part of their daily speech.

⁶ Or, perhaps you live in one of the large population centers where you come in closer contact with the rotten fruitage produced by the present degenerate society of mankind. Fear of your fellowman compels you to lock your doors securely at night. Parents often worry over the danger that their children may be kidnapped. There are not many people you dare to trust, especially in the commercial world. Agreements involving any degree of risk are usually set out in legal contracts, couched in special phraseology to make them binding, simply because the word of people cannot be trusted. The newspaper, radio and television headlines and commentaries, the statistics on crime and delinquency, and the general outcries of an aroused public all testify to the bad and poisonous fruitage produced by the present generation. On every social and governmental level of society people of this present system of things are very selfish and greedy. They quarrel and often fight like wild animals. Ever so many are liars, extortionists, thieves and “kickback” artists. Some are desperate underworld criminals and fugitives from justice. Many are sadistic killers and sex perverts who lie in wait for innocent and defenseless victims. More and more people by choice are fornicators, adulterers, masturbaters and sodomites. Some have reached great notoriety in high social circles as professional prostitutes, paramours, “playboys” and pimps. Many, many thousands are dope addicts and habitual drunkards. It is not an exaggeration to say that, for the most part, the whole world, morally speaking, seems to be a tangled jungle of confusion infested by beastlike characters who prey upon their fellow creatures.

WHY SUCH WICKED CONDITIONS?

7. How has heredity been a major influence on personality characteristics?

⁷ A thoughtful person inquires beyond the prima-facie evidence, which appears on the surface, and seeks to learn the cause for these atrocious conditions, as well as a remedy, if there is one. Such an inquiry discloses that bad personality characteristics such as described above are acquired, in part, through both heredity and environment. Parents have passed on to their children the imprint of nearly 6,000 years of sin and death. “Through one man [Adam] sin entered into the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because they had all sinned.” “Through the disobedience of the one man many were constituted sinners.” (Rom. 5:12, 19) Hence David confessed, though he was ‘a man agreeable to Jehovah’s heart,’ “In sin my mother conceived me.” (Acts 13:22; Ps. 51:5) Of sinner Adam’s offspring “there is not a righteous man, not even one.” “Who can produce someone clean out of someone unclean?” asked Job.—Rom. 3:10; Job 14:4.

8. What effect has environment had on personalities?

⁸ The climate and environment in which seedlings are compelled to grow have much to do with their development and fruitfulness. No less is this true with the offspring of mankind. From infancy children are surrounded by the depraved environment of this corrupt world. The atmosphere created in the home by the parents may be quite good, which, of course, is the rare exception nowadays, yet the association outside the parental nest is, for the most part, ruthless and cruel. The child that comes from a good home plays and associates so often with less fortunate children. The public schooling of the youth, whether inside or outside of Christendom, is under the influence of a wicked system of things ruled by Satan the Devil and his demons.—John 12:31; 2 Cor. 4:4; Eph. 2:2.

9. Why have conditions worsened, particularly since 1914?

⁹ Do not forget that, since 1914 and the beginning of World War I, we are living in a time of great calamity and woe. The Bible foretold what would take place after that year, saying: “So down the great dragon was hurled [from heaven], the original serpent, the one called Devil and Satan, who is misleading the entire inhabited earth; he was hurled down to the earth, and his angels were hurled down with him. [Hence] . . . woe for the earth and for the sea, because the Devil has come down to you, having great anger, knowing he has a short period of time.”—Rev. 12:9, 12.

10. How accurately did Paul describe the personalities of people living today?

¹⁰ We are now living in this “short period of time,” the “last days” of this Devil-ruled system of things, concerning which the apostle Paul under divine inspiration warned: “But know this, that in the last days critical times hard to deal with will be here.” In telling how critical and how hard to deal with this time would be, Paul next describes the foul-smelling personalities that would walk the earth in these last days. His description is so accurate and faithful to the facts we might imagine we are reading a commentary in our daily newspaper instead of Paul’s nineteen-hundred-year-old letter to Timothy. “For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, self-assuming, haughty, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, disloyal, having no natural affection, not open to any agreement, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, without love of goodness, betrayers, headstrong, puffed up with pride, lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God, having a form of godly devotion but proving false to its power.”—2 Tim. 3:1-5.

SOLID BASIS FOR HOPE

11, 12. In spite of world conditions, why is our situation not a hopeless one?

¹¹ Notwithstanding this bad start every one of us has had through heredity, as well as the degrading influence we have suffered by our environmental association with a world under the control of enraged demons, yet the situation is not altogether hopeless. Reassuring hope is based on the trustworthy testimony Jesus gave to the Jewish ruler, Nicodemus, when he declared: “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.

¹² What world did God love? Why, the world of fallen sinful mankind, offspring of the rebel sinner Adam. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,” not sinless ones, wrote the apostle Paul to Timothy. To the same effect he also wrote the Romans, saying: “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” So the grand privilege of entering Jehovah’s glorious new order of perfection and righteousness, and having everlasting life under that wonderful arrangement of things, is extended, not to a sinless race of people, but only toward human creatures who are born in sin and schooled under a system of demonic wickedness.—1 Tim. 1:15; Rom. 5:8.

13. Does this mean that God’s new order will be populated with bad personalities?

¹³ Does this mean that Jehovah will allow the restored Paradise to be populated with the hateful personalities that now infest the earth? Certainly not! Some changes, indeed, some very drastic changes, in the personalities of those qualifying for life in God’s sinless kingdom of uprightness are absolutely necessary.

14, 15. (a) What association did Jesus have with sinners, and with what results? (b) What do we learn from this?

¹⁴ At Capernaum during Jesus’ great Galilean ministry all doubt on this point was removed. Jesus, the historical account says, “beheld a tax collector named Levi [also called Matthew] sitting at the tax office.” Now tax collectors even at that early time had a bad reputation as extortioners. Nevertheless, “[Jesus] said to him: ‘Be my follower.’ And leaving everything behind he rose up and went following him. Also, Levi spread a big reception feast for him in his house; and there was a great crowd of tax collectors and others who were with them reclining at the meal. At this the Pharisees and their scribes began murmuring to his disciples, saying: ‘Why is it you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?’ In reply Jesus said to them: ‘Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but those who are ailing do. I have come to call, not righteous persons, but sinners to repentance.’” On another occasion, this time in the city of Jerusalem just a few days before he was put to death, Jesus again emphasized this truth when confronted by the hypocritical holier-than-thou religious leaders of his day. “Truly I say to you that the [despised and sinful] tax collectors and the harlots are going ahead of you into the kingdom of God.”—Luke 5:27-32; Matt. 21:31.

¹⁵ We learn several important things from this conversation. Sinners were called to be footstep followers of Jesus, and in the instance of Matthew he was also called to be one of the twelve apostles. Such sinners, however, are not called to continue in their past course of lawlessness and sin, but, rather, are called to repentance. Extortioners and harlots will live forever in God’s new order, not simply because they are humble enough to admit their guilt as sinners, but, more important, because they are eager and happy to change their past way of thinking and their past way of living, yes, to change their whole personalities of the past.

16. What, then, is required of all who hope to live forever?

¹⁶ The making over of our personalities, therefore, is a divine requirement upon all who will live forever in God’s new order. However, this does not mean that it is a requirement that will be enforced for the first time after Jehovah destroys Satan and his wicked influence upon human society. Rather, it is a requirement that all those who hope to survive Armageddon must meet now, this side of the Battle, now, “before there comes upon you people the burning anger of Jehovah.”—Zeph. 2:2.

NOT A RECENT REQUIREMENT

17. Is the stripping off of the old personality a rather recent requirement? How do you know?

¹⁷ This new-order requirement, the acquiring of a completely new personality, is not something that is demanded only of twentieth-century Christians who are faced with the imminence of Armageddon. First-century followers of Christ had to work just as diligently to make over and change their way of living. Note what the apostle Paul wrote in 55 C.E. to those in the congregation at Corinth. “What! Do you not know that unrighteous persons will not inherit God’s kingdom? Do not be misled. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men kept for unnatural purposes, nor men who lie with men, nor thieves, nor greedy persons, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit God’s kingdom. And yet that is what some of you were.”—1 Cor. 6:9-11.

18. In this regard what did Paul also write to the Colossians?

¹⁸ To another congregation, “to the holy ones and faithful brothers in union with Christ at Colossae,” the apostle Paul wrote in 60-61 C.E.: “Deaden, therefore, your body members that are upon the earth as respects fornication, uncleanness, sexual appetite, hurtful desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of those things the wrath of God is coming. In those very things you, too, once walked when you used to live in them. But now really put them all away from you, wrath, anger, injuriousness, abusive speech, and obscene talk out of your mouth. Do not be lying to one another.”—Col. 1:2; 3:5-9.

19. Did Paul consider himself exempt from meeting this divine requirement?

¹⁹ Paul the apostle of the Lord Christ Jesus was no exception, for he included himself with the rest of the early Christians when he wrote: “For even we were once senseless, disobedient, being misled, being slaves to various desires and pleasures, carrying on in maliciousness and envy, hateful, hating one another.” In another letter this apostle of Christ again included himself, saying: “It is you God made alive though you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you at one time walked according to the system of things of this world, according to the ruler of the authority of the air, the spirit that now operates in the sons of disobedience. Yes, among them we all at one time conducted ourselves in harmony with the desires of our flesh, doing the things willed by the flesh and the thoughts, and we were naturally children of wrath even as the rest.”—Titus 3:3; Eph. 2:1-3.

20. What did Peter write in this regard?

²⁰ The apostle Peter also told how true Christians of the first century transformed or made over their personalities, saying: “For the time that has passed by is sufficient for you to have worked out the will of the nations when you proceeded in deeds of loose conduct, lusts, excesses with wine, revelries, drinking matches, and illegal idolatries. Because you do not continue running with them in this course to the same low sink of debauchery, they are puzzled and go on speaking abusively of you.”—1 Pet. 4:3, 4.

21. Is the stripping off of the old personality with its practices an optional matter for true Christians today?

²¹ If first-century Christians to whom these words were originally addressed had to make such drastic changes in their personalities in order to entertain the hope of everlasting life, then with a greater force of argument must we do likewise, who are living in this violent and corrupt twentieth century at the very portals of the long-awaited new order. Jehovah’s law is just as demanding upon us as upon the Ephesians and Colossians who were told: “Put away the old personality which conforms to your former course of conduct and . . . put on the new personality.” “Strip off the old personality with its practices, and clothe yourselves with the new personality.”—Eph. 4:22-24; Col. 3:9, 10.

STRIP OFF THAT BABYLONISH PERSONALITY NOW

22. What evidence proves it is possible for individuals to strip off their old personalities?

²² The great majority of people today who publicly display the rotten fruitage of their bad personalities seem quite content to continue doing the works of their lord and owner the Devil. (John 8:44) Jehovah’s Christian witnesses, therefore, stand out in stark contrast to these, for they gladly put themselves under the ownership and cultivation of Jehovah and Christ Jesus. The ever-increasing number of these Witnesses already totals more than a million and is growing at a phenomenal rate throughout the earth. During the fiscal year of 1963 more than 62,000 were baptized in symbol of their dedication to do the will of their owner Jehovah.

23. (a) From where do the ever-increasing number of Jehovah’s witnesses come? (b) What were their former personalities like?

²³ And from where do these Witnesses come? Principally from this world’s organized religious systems, otherwise collectively identified in the Scriptures as “Babylon the Great, the mother of the harlots and of the disgusting things of the earth.” These people who become Jehovah’s witnesses quickly respond to the divine call, “Get out of her, my people,” and in doing so they shed their old personalities that conformed to their former course of conduct while they were under the tutelage of that wicked system. If all the former Babylonish thoughts, sayings and deeds of these individuals were written in an open book for all to read, it would certainly tell a shocking story. It would reveal that formerly some had been slanderers, envious, quarrelers, greedy persons and hateful gossipers. More shocking, it would disclose that formerly some had had the personalities of liars, thieves, killers, sodomites, fornicators, prostitutes, dope addicts and drunkards. Wild undisciplined trees these were, whose fruitage was a disgrace to God and to man!—Rev. 17:5; 18:4.

24. Having stripped off their Babylonish personalities, what image do Jehovah’s witnesses now present to the world of mankind?

²⁴ But now look at the reputation that these same individuals have made since becoming associated with Jehovah’s witnesses. Everywhere in Christendom, in Heathendom and in communistic lands Jehovah’s witnesses are recognized as an upright, clean and honest people, a people of truth and integrity, holy men and women and children of faith, fidelity and courage. Certainly those producing delicious and noble fruit like this are as oases in the barren wilderness of human society. Of a truth, only “big trees of righteousness, the planting of Jehovah,” could bear such precious life-giving fruitage as this!—Isa. 61:3.

25. What invitation is here urgently extended to all?

²⁵ Whoever you are, if you sigh and cry because of the disgusting things you see done in the earth, if you want to live forever, you too can get out of Babylon the Great and make the break for freedom and life in Jehovah’s new order! You too can strip off the old Babylonish personality together with its death-dealing practices. But hurry! There is little time left before God’s judgment destroys this monstrous “mother of harlots” together with all who remain in her.—Rev. 17:1, 2, 15, 16.

26. What questions are raised, and where will satisfactory answers to them be found?

²⁶ But how, you may ask, can such colossal changes in the whole personality of an individual be made? How can the change be made at this crucial time when the pressure is so great to compel everyone to conform to the world’s way of thinking and acting? How has this been accomplished in the case of the hundreds of thousands of Jehovah’s witnesses of all nationalities? All who want to live forever will find the Scriptural answers to these important questions presented in the following article.

Let the Spirit’s Fruitage Make Over Your Personality

“Produce fruit that befits repentance. [For] every tree . . . that does not produce fine fruit is to be cut down and thrown into the fire.”—Matt. 3:8, 10.

1. In his Sermon on the Mount, how did Jesus say we could tell the difference between good and bad trees?

“BY THEIR fruits you will recognize them.” This proverbial truth is often quoted, but not everyone who repeats it knows he is quoting from Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount. In that Sermon by way of illustration the Great Teacher enlarged on this principle of truth, saying: “Never do people gather grapes from thorns or figs from thistles, do they? Likewise every good tree produces fine fruit, but every rotten tree produces worthless fruit; a good tree cannot bear worthless fruit, neither can a rotten tree produce fine fruit. Every tree not producing fine fruit gets cut down and thrown into the fire. Really, then, by their fruits you will recognize those men.” “A good man brings forth good out of the good treasure of his heart, but a wicked man brings forth what is wicked out of his wicked treasure; for out of the heart’s abundance his mouth speaks.”—Matt. 7:16-20; Luke 6:45.

2. What kind of fruitage did Paul say would identify persons who will go into everlasting destruction?

² In his letter to the Galatians Paul also said that rotten stock could easily be recognized by the worthless fruit it produces. So if you see a person practicing fornication or uncleanness or engaging in loose conduct, if you see an idolatrous person or one practicing spiritism, if you see a person expressing hatred, strife or jealousy, or one being seized in fits of anger, if you see one stirring up contentions, divisions, sects or envies, if you see one engaging in drunken bouts or licentious revelries, or if you see one practicing things like these, then you know you are looking at a rotten tree that is about to be cut down and pitched into the fire of everlasting destruction. “As to these things,” Paul continues, “I am forewarning you, the same way as I did forewarn you, that those who practice such things will not inherit God’s kingdom.”—Gal. 5:19-21.

3. From these scriptures to what conclusions do we come?

³ These conclusions are therefore inescapable: rotten trees must first become good trees before they can produce good fruit; the man’s heart must first become good before his mouth can speak forth good things; incorrigible ones who resist and resent changing will be summarily burned up, annihilated. Furthermore, if such changes in personality and in one’s course of conduct were not possible, then Paul’s warning to the Galatians would have been meaningless, without purpose.

4. How are drastic changes in personality made possible today?

⁴ But how can the mental makeup, the living habits, the way one talks and acts toward others, be altered and changed to the point where one has a completely new personality? Well, how were such drastic changes possible in the case of the Christian Corinthians who formerly had been fornicators, adulterers, thieves, drunkards, revilers, extortioners, and so forth? The inspired Scriptures answer: “But you have been washed clean, but you have been sanctified, but you have been declared righteous in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and with the spirit of our God.” So with this same divine agency, Jehovah’s active force, the holy spirit of our God, the same changes in true followers of our Lord Jesus Christ today can be accomplished.—1 Cor. 6:11.

5. (a) Describe the “fruitage of the spirit.” (b) Who are able to display it?

⁵ Further assuring us that it is Jehovah’s active force or holy spirit that produces the fine fruit displayed by true Christians, Galatians 5:22-25 declares: “The fruitage of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness, self-control. . . . Moreover, those who belong to Christ Jesus impaled the flesh together with its passions and desires. If we are living by spirit, let us go on walking orderly also by spirit.” As long as a person has the “spirit of the world” he can never hope to bring forth this kind of fruitage, for only those who receive “the spirit which is from God” can do so.—1 Cor. 2:12.

THE BEAUTY OF A NEW PERSONALITY

6. In what ways will a new personality be reflected in one’s speech?

⁶ Jehovah’s powerful spirit can certainly give a person a completely new personality. For example, if you are long-suffering, mild-tempered and are exercising self-control, certainly your speech and language is bound to improve. If you bridle your tongue, abusive, hateful and cutting remarks will be avoided. You will have a mild answer to give to those who oppose you and revile you. (1 Pet. 3:15) Filthy language, obscene jesting, foolish talking and rotten sayings will not pass your lips if you are being led by Jehovah’s spirit, for you will have a love for his holy Word the Bible and the divine precepts contained therein. That Word commands: “Let a rotten saying not proceed out of your mouth . . . neither . . . foolish talking nor obscene jesting.” “Now really put them all away from you, . . . abusive speech, and obscene talk out of your mouth.”—Eph. 4:29; 5:4; Col. 3:8; Jas. 3:8-12; Prov. 15:1.

7. (a) In what other ways can Jehovah’s spirit change one’s personality? (b) By exercising self-control what “hurtful desires” can be avoided, to the saving of one’s life?

⁷ By letting the power of Jehovah’s spirit make over your personality you will be able to exercise self-discipline and self-control in this immoral, sex-maddened, thrill-seeking world. You will be able to “deaden . . . your body members . . . as respects fornication, uncleanness, sexual appetite, hurtful desire.” Such “hurtful desires” include harmful habit-forming things like the addiction to narcotics and the slavery to tobacco. The same is true when it comes to your personal eating and drinking habits. Moderation and self-control will prevent you from becoming either a glutton or a drunkard. Modern sophisticated society may frown at the insinuation that it is infested with drunkards, preferring to call such addicts by a more fancy name, “alcoholics.” But regardless of what label is attached the Bible declares that unless they make over their personalities by exercising self-control they will never live in God’s clean and sober new order of righteousness.—Col. 3:5; 1 Cor. 6:10; Prov. 23:20, 21.

8. How can one display the fruitage of God’s spirit in the home, and with what results?

⁸ Particularly in your association with others should you radiate the new personality that only Jehovah’s spirit can develop. Begin to do this in the home among blood relatives, whether they are in the Truth or not, as you deal with the many economic problems and social difficulties of the times. If you exercise self-control, if you show mildness, if you prove you have faith, if you display goodness and kindness, if you are long-suffering, if you bless the home with peace and joy and, above all, if you show love toward everyone, why, even as the apostle Peter says, unbelieving husbands who have the spirit of the world “may be won without a word through the conduct of their wives, because of having been eyewitnesses of your chaste conduct together with deep respect.”—1 Pet. 3:1, 2.

9. (a) Besides in the home, where else should one reflect a Christlike personality? (b) What excuse, then, will opponents have to speak abusively of you?

⁹ There can be no hypocritical pretension in this regard. This new personality is not to be a thin veneer for outward show, nor is it a pretty veil that is put on or taken off to fit the occasion. Rather, if you have the spirit of God instead of the spirit of the world, then this new personality must be an inseparable part of you. At all times, whether in your home congregation or on an around-the-world tour, whether inside or outside the home, wherever you go this beautiful Christlike personality must also go. When you visit your neighbors and friends in the house-to-house work, when you go to your business, when you go to school, wherever you go, you must display this same new personality for all to see. Your friends and neighbors, your business associates, your schoolteachers and schoolmates, will be compelled to see how the power of Jehovah’s spirit can create in His witnesses completely new personalities. Let their speaking abusively of you be because you do not lose your temper, because you do not lie or steal or cheat, because you do not commit fornication or adultery, because you are not a slave to habit-forming narcotics, including tobacco, because you do not get drunk, “because you do not continue running with them in this course to the same low sink of debauchery.”—1 Pet. 4:3, 4.

10. What personality characteristics identify those of the Christian congregation?

¹⁰ Another place where your loving “new personality” will be noticed, and especially appreciated and admired, is in association with the congregation of Jehovah’s people. Whether that congregation is a small one numbering but a handful or whether it is a large international assembly of Jehovah’s witnesses, you must “walk worthily of the calling with which you were called, with complete lowliness of mind and mildness, with long-suffering, putting up with one another in love, earnestly endeavoring to observe the oneness of the spirit [which is from God] in the uniting bond of peace.” (Eph. 4:1-3) Colossians 3:12-14 also addresses you who are associated with Jehovah’s congregation, when it says: “As God’s chosen ones, holy and loved, clothe yourselves with the tender affections of compassion, kindness, lowliness of mind, mildness, and long-suffering. Continue putting up with one another and forgiving one another freely if anyone has a cause for complaint against another. Even as Jehovah freely forgave you, so do you also. But, besides all these things, clothe yourselves with love, for it is a perfect bond of union.”

YOUR OWN RESPONSIBILITY

11. (a) With whom does the responsibility for a new personality lie, with the creature or with the Creator? Explain. (b) How did Jesus emphasize this point?

¹¹ What is your personal responsibility or obligation in this matter of making over your personality? When you make a dedication of your life to do God’s will, is your acquiring of a new personality entirely up to Jehovah? When you come out of the water of baptism in symbol of such dedication to God, do you automatically and immediately step forth adorned with a clean new personality? No, the change does not come in this fashion or with this speed. First of all, Jehovah does his part; there is no question about this. He provides his active force or holy spirit that makes possible the great change. However, Jehovah makes this provision available only to those desiring it, to those seeking it, to those asking or begging Him to give them such spirit. Jesus emphasized this divine principle when he said in his Sermon on the Mount: “Keep on asking, and it will be given you; keep on seeking, and you will find; keep on knocking, and it will be opened to you. For everyone asking receives, and everyone seeking finds, and to everyone knocking it will be opened.” For those who first ask, Jehovah can “do more than superabundantly beyond all the things we ask or conceive.”—Matt. 7:7, 8; Eph. 3:20.

12. In accepting one’s responsibility for stripping off the old personality, how can self-confidence be avoided?

¹² It is therefore your responsibility first to ask Jehovah for his holy spirit as well as prove worthy of receiving it by making a dedication of your life to the doing of his will. Then upon receiving such divine help and power it is your obligation to let the fruitage of that spirit make over your personality. It is your responsibility to strip off the old personality together with its practices. This is not an easy thing to do. It is a tremendous undertaking, and each one individually must put forth a great effort. However, with all your personal effort, without the active force or spirit of Jehovah it could never be accomplished, for no human who is an offspring of the willful sinner Adam has the power and strength in himself. Never forget this. Never become self-reliant or self-confident. Rather, keep on asking for Jehovah’s spirit, keep on seeking Jehovah’s help in this regard.

13. How do some attempt to excuse themselves from personal responsibility in the matter of making over their personalities?

¹³ Have you ever heard some attempt to excuse themselves from this personal responsibility by saying, “This is just the way I am. I can’t change”? This is the weak crutch that the drunkard or alcoholic and the tobacco and narcotic addicts often lean upon. No one doubts the truthfulness of the first statement, “This is just the way I am.” But when they add, “I can’t change,” they really mean, “I won’t change.” This is the same spirit, the same mental attitude that Cain had. Instead of heeding Jehovah’s warning to “turn to doing good,” Cain obstinately held to the false premise, “I can’t turn; I can’t change,” and so headlong this ‘I-won’t-turn’ man plunged down the course of violence and disobedience to his eternal destruction.—Gen. 4:6-8; Jude 11.

14. Are so-called “split personalities” free to indulge periodically in loose conduct?

¹⁴ Then there are those who would like to deceive themselves and others into believing they have what they like to call an uncontrollable “split personality.” This they think excuses them from personal responsibility and gives them license to fly into a fit of anger at the slightest provocation, or to indulge in a periodic fling of loose conduct. But alas, how wrong they are! No ‘Dr. Jekylls and Mr. Hydes’ are acceptable in the theocratic society of Jehovah’s Christian witnesses, for such so-called “split personalities” are not pleasing to God. Jesus declared: “He that is not on my side is against me.” It is also written: “You cannot be drinking the cup of Jehovah and the cup of demons; you cannot be partaking of ‘the table of Jehovah’ and the table of demons.” You cannot have the spirit of the world and at the same time have the spirit of God. Only the stupid one thinks he can remain clean and yet, periodically, return to his vomit and to a rolling in the mire.—Matt. 12:30; 1 Cor. 10:21; 2 Pet. 2:22; Prov. 26:11.

15. As children of the light, how should Christian personalities conduct themselves?

¹⁵ Daytime and nighttime cannot be split up and intermixed to suit the whims of anyone. So if we have come out of darkness into His marvelous light, then as children of the light we cannot conduct ourselves as children of darkness. This is Paul’s argument to the Romans. “The night is well along; the day has drawn near. Let us therefore put off the works belonging to darkness and let us put on the weapons of the light. As in the daytime let us walk decently, not in revelries and drunken bouts, not in illicit intercourse and loose conduct, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not be planning ahead for the desires of the flesh.”—Rom. 13:12-14; 1 Pet. 2:9.

GROWTH TOWARD MATURITY AND PERFECTION

16. Are we to suppose that the attaining to a new personality is something that occurs suddenly and completely?

¹⁶ Some might conclude from the emphatic language used by the apostle Paul in Colossians 3:9 that this stripping off of the old personality and the replacing of it with a new personality is something that occurs suddenly and completely. Such a conclusion, however, is not according to the Scriptures or the facts. Growth in maturity from the spring planting to the harvest fruitage illustrates the point. The process is gradual and one that requires a great deal of effort and hard work on the part of the farmer. Peter appreciated this principle of gradual growth and development when he wrote: “Supply to your faith virtue, to your virtue knowledge, to your knowledge self-control, to your self-control endurance, to your endurance godly devotion, to your godly devotion brotherly affection, to your brotherly affection love.” Adds Paul: “To what extent we have made progress, let us go on walking orderly in this same routine.”—2 Pet. 1:5-7; Phil. 3:16.

17. How do John and James show that constant effort toward improvement in one’s personality is necessary?

¹⁷ So the change in personality characteristics takes time and is something that is never completed in imperfect mankind. Perfection in personality will never be reached this side of Jehovah’s new order of righteousness. Hence the need for constant effort toward improvement. The inspired writers John and James put it this way: “If we make the statement: ‘We have no sin,’ we are misleading ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous so as to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we make the statement: ‘We have not sinned,’ we are making him a liar, and his word is not in us.” “We all stumble many times. If anyone does not stumble in word, this one is a perfect man, able to bridle also his whole body.”—1 John 1:8-10; Jas. 3:2.

18, 19. In what never-ending struggle are Christians engaged, as shown in the case of Paul?

¹⁸ Not even the apostle Paul while in the fallen flesh reached perfection in his personality. Otherwise he would not have said: “I find, then, this law in my case: that when I wish to do what is right, what is bad is present with me. I really delight in the law of God according to the man I am within, but I behold in my members another law warring against the law of my mind and leading me captive to sin’s law that is in my members.” So down to the day of his death this great Christian warrior admitted that it was necessary to put up a hard fight. “I browbeat my body and lead it as a slave, that, after I have preached to others, I myself should not become disapproved somehow.”—Rom. 7:21-23; 1 Cor. 9:27.

¹⁹ As in the apostle Paul’s case, so in ours, if we fail to browbeat the sinful tendencies of the fallen fleshly body and lead it as a slave to the dictates of a new personality, if we fail to display the fruitage of Jehovah’s spirit, we too will be disapproved by Jehovah, and that would be most tragic.

20, 21. According to Jesus’ warning, what will be the consequences if we fall to let the spirit’s fruitage make over our personalities?

²⁰ Do you realize what that means, to be disapproved by Jehovah? Shortly before Jesus was taken captive that last night he warned his disciples of the terrible consequence that would come upon his anointed followers if they were disapproved because of not bearing the fruitage of Jehovah’s spirit. “I am the true vine,” said Jesus, “and my Father is the cultivator. Every branch in me not bearing fruit he takes away, and every one bearing fruit he cleans, that it may bear more fruit. . . . Just as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it remains in the vine, in the same way neither can you, unless you remain in union with me. . . . If anyone does not remain in union with me, he is cast out as a branch and is dried up; and men gather those branches up and pitch them into the fire and they are burned.”—John 15:1-6.

²¹ Jehovah is a productive cultivator, and he will see to it that everyone in his lush theocratic organization produces and displays the pleasant fruitage of His spirit. Make no mistake about it, if you fail to produce the fruitage of a Christian personality you will have no place in the theocratic society of Jehovah’s Christian witnesses! All the fruitless, wild and lawless suckers in his cultivated organization are quickly lopped off, cast out, dried up and eventually are pitched into the fire of everlasting destruction! “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”—Heb. 10:31.

22. Why should we not belittle the discipline of our loving Father, Jehovah?

²² How much better, then, to be disciplined by our heavenly Father, as by the Great Cultivator who cleans his people by his Word and dealings, in order that we may remain in His fertile organization and bear more of the spirit’s fruitage in union with Christ Jesus our Lord. It is true, as Paul wrote to the Hebrews, that such corrective discipline and cleaning of our personalities is painful, “yet afterward to those who have been trained by it it yields peaceable fruit, namely, righteousness.” So “do not belittle the discipline from Jehovah, neither give out when you are corrected by him; for whom Jehovah loves he disciplines.”—Heb. 12:5-11.

START COUNTING YOUR BLESSINGS

23. Together with Jehovah’s people, what are some of the grand blessings you can now enjoy in great measure?

²³ Your letting the spirit’s fruitage make over your personality this side of Armageddon will bring you many Kingdom blessings even amid the present sordid conditions in the world. You too will be able to count your blessings and privileges together with Jehovah’s witnesses. You will have freedom from want, for you will continually enjoy a banquet of rich spiritual food. Your cup will overflow with joy and happiness. Never do the righteous who seek first the Kingdom have to beg for bread. (Matt. 4:4; 6:31-33; Isa. 25:6; Ps. 37:25) You will have freedom from fear of man, for we know that Jehovah can deliver the righteous and give them the victory even when their enemies torture them to death. (Ps. 118:6; Luke 12:4; 1 John 4:18) You will have freedom from slavery to Satan and his demonic organization, for the Truth will set you free to become the happy and willing slaves of Jehovah and Christ Jesus. (John 8:32; Rom. 6:6, 16; 1 Cor. 7:23; Gal. 1:10; Col. 3:23, 24; 1 Pet. 2:16) You will have the freedom to worship and the freedom to assemble with Christ Jesus in your very midst, whether openly by the thousands in great assemblies of Jehovah’s witnesses, or secretly behind iron and bamboo curtains. (Matt. 18:20) You will have the freedom and privilege through prayer to talk directly to your Father Jehovah, to petition him for his spirit, his guidance, his strength and his protection. (Matt. 6:6; John 14:13, 14) You will have the freedom and honor to carry about the fear-inspiring name of JEHOVAH as you serve as his dedicated publicity agents and witnesses, proclaiming the everlasting good news to all the nations.

24. What is the all-important purpose served by your bearing more of the spirit’s fruitage?

²⁴ Above all, never overlook the grandest blessing and privilege that any creature could possibly have, namely, sharing in the vindication of the precious Word and sacred Name of your Father Jehovah. Jesus in his illustration of the vine and the branches particularly emphasized this overriding purpose for bearing more of the spirit’s fruitage, saying: “My Father is glorified in this, that you keep bearing much fruit and prove yourselves my disciples.”—John 15:8.

25. So what should we keep on doing, and with what results?

²⁵ So keep on letting the spirit’s fruitage make over your personality. Keep on bearing much fruitage. Keep on proving that you are a true footstep follower of Christ Jesus and an imitator of his lovely personality. Then, instead of reading the sickening story of your stripped-off old personality, everyone will be so happy and thrilled to make the acquaintance of your attractive new personality in the fruitage that Jehovah’s holy spirit has produced. All to the honor and praise and sanctifying of Jehovah, the most glorious personality in all the universe!

Hospital Witnessing

● Even while ill, Jehovah’s witnesses are a comfort to others, including those who are attending them in their illness. This can be seen from what took place when a Witness in Toronto, Canada, found it necessary to go to a hospital. She says: “Last October when I spent two weeks in a hospital I had opportunity to witness to nine people, some patients, and others who were employees. One of the employees was a German lady who accepted the magazines from me and asked many questions. After I left the hospital I corresponded with all to whom I had spoken, sending them magazines. I heard from three of them soon afterward. To those who lived in the city I sent along my telephone number. Two days later I had a phone call from the German lady and she thanked me for the magazines. She said she is very tired at the end of the day and cannot bring herself to write a letter, but she was glad to give me a call on the phone.

“She told me, among many things, that she had been promoted at the hospital and because of it was being treated very coldly by her fellow workers. She said, ‘I ate alone and was alone. I didn’t know what to do. Then I got your magazines and your nice letter and I was so happy. I read the first article, which you said I shouldn’t miss, on “Mildness Is Wisdom.” How much better I felt and how glad I was that I didn’t say anything to my fellow workers but just kept quiet! I am glad I remained mild, it was the right course.’ The lady subscribed for the magazines and says that she reads them every night and really enjoys them.”