Chapter 23

What Do You Want out of Life?

1-6. (a) To get the best out of life, what must you be willing to do? (b) For you to have a happy life, what is even more important than excelling in a certain career? (c) Why can the Bible help you in this?

IN YOUTH your life is largely ahead of you. It probably seems to stretch out for a long way, like a road with its end somewhere beyond the horizon. Where will it lead you?

² There is no doubt that the road of life will hold some surprises for you, along with some disappointments. But, as we have seen in this book, there is a lot you can do now to make sure that you get the best out of life. The question is, Are you willing to put forth the effort needed?

³ Many young people think about what activity they will pursue when they finish school. Perhaps you too have thought about that. But no matter what kind of work you do, if you do it poorly it won’t bring you much satisfaction. There is something far more important than this, though.

⁴ Suppose you do become a very fine architect or artist, mechanic, musician, farmer, schoolteacher, or whatever it might be. Is this a sure guarantee that your life will be happy? Not really. Far more important is: What kind of person are you going to be? Many people have had a brilliant career in some profession but have made a miserable failure of their personal lives; they were very unhappy individuals.

⁵ That is why the Bible is so important. Really, the whole Bible is somewhat like a collection of letters from our Creator. As our heavenly Father he is interested in our happiness, and we should be interested in what he has to tell us. We have seen the guidelines that he gives us in answer to so many of our problems. And isn’t it true that it all makes sense? Really without those guidelines from him, how could we be sure of what to do, or know what would work out for the best?

⁶ This calls to mind what the apostle Paul wrote to a younger fellow worker, Timothy. Paul urged him to keep on in the things he had learned since childhood about the Bible’s teachings and said: “All Scripture is inspired of God and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness, that the man of God may be fully competent, completely equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:14-17) Anything that is really worth while in life​—no matter what kind of activity it may involve—​you will be better equipped to do it and do it well if you let yourself be guided by God’s Word. It can make you a better son or daughter, a better husband or wife, a better father or mother, a better worker, a better friend and, above all, a better servant of your Creator.

TAKING ON RESPONSIBILITY

7-11. As shown in the Bible, what is the key to getting the very best out of life?

⁷ Sooner or later you will have some serious decisions to make. The time will come when you will have to take on your own load of responsibility. Right now you are something like a young eagle. You may know that eagles often build their nest high up on the edge of a towering cliff. When the young ones start fluttering their wings and are ready to fly, the parent eagles will edge them to the side of the nest and then​—out into the air! One observer tells of watching a parent eagle letting the young one drop about ninety feet before swooping underneath and, with outspread wings, letting the young bird alight on its back. Then a soaring flight back up to the nest and the process was repeated until the young eagle had learned to fly.​—Bulletin of the Smithsonian Institution, Vol. CLXVII, page 302.

⁸ In your case, your parents have built up a home with much effort and planning. But you cannot forever count on them to do things for you or to make big decisions for you. This would be especially true if, on coming of age, you should decide to leave home. Your parents can help to prepare you for taking on responsibility as a grown man or woman, making it easier for you until you are able to be on your own, just as the parent eagle does for its young. But you will have to do your part also.

⁹ The design of the eagle’s powerful wings and its instinctive ability to fly​—these things originally came from an all-wise Creator. So each of us needs to realize that the key to getting the best out of life is found in our reliance on Him. No matter how fine (or how poor) a start your parents may be able to give you, and no matter how good a mind and body you may have, you will always want to appreciate the need for guidance from Jehovah God and look to him for strength to follow his leadings. He inspired these words to be written for young persons like yourself:

¹⁰ “To my sayings incline your ear. May they not get away from your eyes. Keep them in the midst of your heart. For they are life to those finding them and health to all their flesh. More than all else that is to be guarded, safeguard your heart, for out of it are the sources of life. . . . As for your eyes, straight ahead they should look, yes, your own beaming eyes should gaze straight in front of you. Smooth out the course of your foot, and may all your own ways be firmly established.”​—Proverbs 4:20-26.

¹¹ The more you look to Jehovah God and his Word for direction, the smoother the road of life will become for you.

HAVING GOD AS YOUR FRIEND

12, 13. (a) Besides avoiding what the Bible says is wrong, what else do we need if God is to be our friend? (b) How was the way opened for us to have such a relationship? (John 14:6)

¹² How can you do this? It isn’t simply by avoiding things that God’s Word shows to be wrong. You need to have a personal relationship with Jehovah as your heavenly Father. Your parents may be able to point you in that direction, but they can’t establish that relationship for you. You must do that yourself, seeking Jehovah’s friendship. If you want the Maker of this vast universe as your friend, what does he require of you?

¹³ To open the way for this, Jehovah God sent his firstborn Son on an assignment to this planet Earth, causing him to be born as a human. When he became a full-grown man, God’s Son gave his life on our behalf. As the Bible says: “We behold Jesus, who has been made a little lower than angels, crowned with glory and honor for having suffered death, that he by God’s undeserved kindness might taste death for every man.”​—Hebrews 2:9.

14, 15. (a) What can all of us see in our lives that shows that we are imperfect? (Romans 5:12; 7:21-23) (b) At Matthew 6:12, to what are sins likened? How can that “debt” be paid?

¹⁴ The Bible shows that the reason this was needed is that we are all imperfect and sinful. That shouldn’t be hard for you to recognize as true, because at times you probably have found it a real struggle to keep from doing things that you knew were wrong. Very likely you have at times weakened and given in to some wrong desire. This inborn leaning toward wrongdoing is something that we all inherited from our first parents, and that is why the whole human race is in a dying condition.

¹⁵ But God’s Son gave his perfect human life so as to provide the means for canceling out all our wrongdoing. The Bible helps us to understand how this works by likening sins to “debts.” (Matthew 6:12) For example, if you spread around some false rumor about someone else, wouldn’t you say that you “owed” him an apology? That means you are in “debt” to him because of the wrong you did. But the debt we have toward God is so big that we could never pay it ourselves. Christ Jesus’ perfect human life, however, is of such great value that it can cancel out all the debts we incur against God due to inherited sinfulness, and that is why God’s Son gave up his life on our behalf.

16-18. (a) Why do you feel that God deserves our appreciation for what was done by means of his Son? (Romans 5:6-10) (b) What are some of the things that we can do to show that appreciation?

¹⁶ So the way is open for us to have friendship with God. But we have to show that we appreciate what he has done in sacrificing his own Son and what his Son did in dying for us. We have to show that we have faith in this provision of God. Jesus said: “The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. He that exercises faith in the Son has everlasting life; he that disobeys the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him.”​—John 3:35, 36.

¹⁷ Just suppose you were to save a person’s life​—perhaps saving someone from drowning or from dying in a burning house—​and as a result of doing this you yourself then died. What if the person who was saved didn’t show any gratitude at all, didn’t even bother to go to your parents and say something in appreciation for your unselfish act? How do you think your own father would feel? You can understand, then, why Jehovah God is rightly grieved and withholds his friendship from those who know about what his Son did for mankind but who show no appreciation for it.

¹⁸ You can show appreciation by the life you live. You can show that you sincerely regret the wrongs you have committed and ask God to ‘cover your debts’ by means of his Son’s sacrifice. You can dedicate yourself to God to serve him for the rest of your life, doing what pleases him. The Bible shows that we can symbolize this dedication by water baptism. Of course, this is not something to be done hastily. You can’t say to God that you’re going to do something and then change your mind. That’s the way little children are; they aren’t really sure what they want to do. But as you approach manhood or womanhood, you are reaching the point in life where you can decide. So it is something for you to be thinking seriously about.

FACING UP TO THE CHALLENGE

19-21. (a) How is the challenge that you face similar to the one that faced David when he went out to fight Goliath? (1 Samuel 17:4-11, 26-51; John 15:17-20; James 4:4) (b) Why can we be confident that it is possible to meet this challenge successfully? (John 16:33; Philippians 4:13; Proverbs 3:5, 6)

¹⁹ To keep proving that you are God’s friend will not always be easy. In fact, the Bible shows that you will have a big challenge because the world as a whole is not God’s friend but his enemy. But do not lose heart. You can show the same spirit that God’s servant David did when he was a young lad. He had come to the army camp of the Israelites at a time when they were confronted by the forces of the Philistines, who were worshipers of false gods. The Philistines’ champion​—a giant of a man named Goliath—​was taunting the Israelites, daring them to do battle with him. David heard this. Though only a youth, he had strong faith in Jehovah. He took up the challenge, advanced on the hulking, heavily armed foe and dropped him with a single stone from his shepherd’s sling.

²⁰ Today you face an enemy world, but have no fear. Jehovah is the same Almighty God that he was in David’s day and you can gain a victory if you show courage and, above all, faith that He will never abandon you but will back you up and give you the needed strength.

²¹ Some men and women, including many young persons, have endured hardships, risked their lives or even died in order to serve the interests of some political government of earth. What a far greater honor it is, however, to serve the interests of the Creator of the whole universe! Consider now how this can give you a life that is far, far better than the life that anyone on earth today enjoys.

Chapter 24

A Grand Future in Store for You

1-3. (a) Why do we live at a most favored time in human history? (b) What change is God going to bring about for our benefit?

IN MANY ways you live at a most favored time in human history. Not because of the way world conditions are today but because of what the Bible shows the near future is due to bring.

² Jehovah God knows how much there is need for a change​—a big change—​in things here on this planet. He is clearly the only One who can bring about that change. The world of mankind is now thousands of years old. But it is still wrestling with the same old problems that have continually troubled human society: war, hunger, poor housing, injustice, economic problems.

³ The things that need straightening out in the present world system are really too many to number. Surely there must be something better than this. And the Bible shows that Jehovah God does have something far better in store for those who love and serve him. In fact, he has been using some six thousand years to unfold his purpose for bringing about a completely new order, a paradise of pleasure. In that new and delightful order of things he promises to eliminate once and for all time the corrupt and violent and selfish conditions that rob life of so much of its joy.

HOW AND WHEN CHANGE WILL COME

4-8. (a) How will Jehovah bring about the needed change? (b) What proves that the time for this to take place is very near? (2 Timothy 3:1-5; Matthew 24:7, 8, 32, 33)

⁴ How will he do this? First of all by doing away with the mixed-up and ineffective rule of this earth under the hundreds of political systems now operating. He declares his purpose to replace them with a single government of his own making, his kingdom by his Son Jesus Christ. God caused the prophet Daniel to foretell that, saying: “In the days of those kings [or rulerships] the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be brought to ruin. And the kingdom . . . will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, and it itself will stand to times indefinite.” (Daniel 2:44) When will this happen? There is a way of knowing when it is near.

⁵ If you live in a temperate zone of the earth and you see the leaves on the trees turn brown and fall off, and you see the skies daily becoming grayer and feel the air becoming crisp and cool, and you see flocks of birds flying toward a warmer zone of the earth​—without looking at the calendar you know that winter is approaching, don’t you? It is not just any one of those things that tells you that, because skies can become gray even on a summer day, or trees might become diseased and lose their leaves. But all those things put together make up a sure sign of winter’s approach.

⁶ In a similar way, there is a “sign” made up of many features that the Bible gives. And this sign tells us that the time is at hand for God’s kingdom by Christ Jesus to take control of this earth. You can see that sign today just by looking at newspapers or through news programs on radio and television. What is it?

⁷ Jesus foretold that within a certain generation there would come a time especially marked by wars, hunger, disease and earthquakes, along with much anxiety and uncertainty as to what the future would bring upon the earth. Aren’t those the very things we are continuously faced with today through the news sources? No generation before in human history has seen all those things in such quantity as the generation living on the earth since 1914. This is why historians call 1914 a “turning point” in mankind’s history.

⁸ Speaking of the generation seeing that “sign,” Jesus said: “When you see these things occurring, know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I say to you, This generation will by no means pass away until all things occur.” (Luke 21:31, 32) This means that God’s new order has drawn near. What changes will it bring?

CHANGES GOD HAS IN STORE FOR THE HUMAN FAMILY

9-13. (a) In God’s new order, what conditions are going to exist for all mankind? (b) What convinces you that these things really can and will take place? (Revelation 21:5)

⁹ By placing this planet and its inhabitants under the rule of just one perfect, heaven-directed government, God promises to stop for all time the political bickering and fighting that waste so much of the world’s wealth. That will mean the end of wars that take the cream of the nations’ youth and, afterward, send them back with large numbers crippled, having hands, arms or legs amputated, perhaps blind or, worse, in the form of lifeless corpses. Those who live in God’s new order will all be peace-loving persons who have carried out the Bible prophecy at Isaiah 2:4: “They will have to beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning shears. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, neither will they learn war anymore.” With peace prevailing earth wide, wonderful things can then be accomplished for the good of all people everywhere.

¹⁰ Not only will political corruption and waste stop. The greed of giant commercial systems will also be brought to a halt. Many of these systems are dirtying up the earth, polluting the air, the water, the land, killing off earth’s wildlife. But the Bible tells us, at Revelation 11:18, that God is going to “bring to ruin those ruining the earth.” Then, the beauty of earth’s forests, the sparkling clearness of its streams and lakes, the freshness and fragrance of its air, and the rich variety of its bird, fish and animal wildlife will all be restored. You can be among those enjoying these things in the grand future that God has in store for those putting faith in his Word.

¹¹ Our Creator promises that, in his new order, the rich produce of the earth will be enjoyed by all persons, wherever they may live. No more on this earth will you see starving children with bloated bellies and shriveled arms, as is true in many parts of the earth today. At Isaiah 25:6, 8, God caused this prophecy to be written: “And Jehovah of armies will certainly make for all the peoples . . . a banquet of well-oiled dishes . . . He will actually swallow up death forever, and the Sovereign Lord Jehovah will certainly wipe the tears from all faces.”

¹² Yes, best of all, the Bible shows that God is going to restore perfect health to obedient mankind. All the sadness and suffering that disease and pain and death have brought will end forever as his Son’s kingdom brings the curing of human sickness and imperfection. Revelation 21:4 tells us: “He will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.”

¹³ That means the time will come when the process of aging that results from human imperfection will be eliminated. How loving of God to provide for a future that will be free from such things as wrinkles, graying hair or baldness, brittle bones, loss of muscle tone, shortness of breath and all the other things that now come with old age. Yes, and for persons already old, God is able to do what Job 33:25 describes, saying: “Let his flesh become fresher than in youth; let him return to the days of his youthful vigor.” Yes, Jehovah God can bring health and strength that are actually better than what youth today has, because even young people now get sick and some die unexpectedly at an early age.

HOW YOU CAN ENJOY THE FUTURE

14-16. What do you need to do in order to enjoy this grand future?

¹⁴ That grand future can be yours if you do as the Bible says: “Remember, now, your Grand Creator in the days of your young manhood [or young womanhood], before the calamitous days proceed to come, or the years have arrived when you will say [as people suffering from old age say]: ‘I have no delight in them.’”​—Ecclesiastes 12:1.

¹⁵ It is not just a matter of thinking of your Creator now and then. It is a matter of remembering him every day and all day long by seeking to live in a way that pleases him and that will make him want to have you among those who will live in his new order. He will not force you to do this. You must do it of your own choice and free will. You know that when your parents have to force you to do something that you should do, then they get no real pleasure out of seeing you do it. But if you do it willingly and gladly because you know it pleases them, you bring them much happiness. So, too, Jehovah in his Word says: “Be wise, my son, and make my heart rejoice.”​—Proverbs 27:11.

¹⁶ Yes, enjoy your youth, the springtime of your life, and get the best out of it. Build the qualities that will bring you the greatest happiness possible, both now and in the future. Use your youth to get a fine start on the road to life, not just to a few short decades of life in this present dying, decaying system of things, but to eternal life in the freshness of youthful vigor on God’s paradise earth.