YOUR Words Have Meaning...To US...And More Importantly...To Jehovah

[Timl1980]

Good evening, friends. I was sitting here relaxing to a few songs that help me to unwind and relax...and I ran across something I had written down in my large print study Bible, something that I wanted to share with each and every single one of you.

 

Every single one of us has a voice...and each of us have beauty and strength in that voice...whether we realize it or not. 

 

I could be going through the exact same situation as any one of you...and yet my impressions of that situation might be very different...and thus my expressions would vary from yours...like the difference between a piece of music played off a piano versus a violin...both are beautiful in their own way...both have the very real potential to move our hearts and minds...to cause goosebumps rippling across the surface of our skin. 

 

And yet...what resonates with me...may not resonate as strongly with you...and that's okay...it's what makes us individuals.  

 

Thus, what matters is not that we have different reactions...or that we have different viewpoints or thoughts on a matter...no, friends...what matters to Jehovah is that we express those varying thoughts and reactions with each other in an upbuilding and encouraging way...what matters is that we use our voice to express ourselves in ways that adds to the beautiful melody that shimmers around Jehovah's people as we make our way through this dying system.

 

Would you like a stunning example of how Jehovah can use someone like YOU...an imperfect sinful person overflowing with hurt and anger and pain...how he can take YOUR  expressions and mold them into something that will not only glorify HIM...but also encourage all the rest of us?

 

Please open your Bibles and turn to Psalms 109 and join me in reading verses 1-8:

 

"O God whom I praise, do not remain silent.2 For the wicked and the deceitful open their mouths against me. They speak about me with lying tongues;3 They surround me with hateful words, And they attack me without cause.4 They resist me in response to my love; But I continue to pray.5 They repay me with bad for good And hatred for my love.6 Appoint a wicked man over him; May a resister stand at his right hand.7 When he is judged, may he be found guilty; May even his prayer be counted as a sin.8 Let his days be few; His office of oversight let someone else take."

 

David had been betrayed, friends. Here he is...in the midst of expressing raw intense pain...sincere desires and concerns pouring out of him...filling the air around him with a literal melody of emotions that were weighing him down.

 

Imagine Jehovah and Jesus listening to him...imagine the angels surrounding this dear brother as he composed this...do you think they felt this man's pain? Of course they did...and these words and emotions that David shared affected Jehovah so deeply...so profoundly...that Jehovah used David's words, David's emotions...centuries later ...to apply to what Judas Iscariot had done in betraying HIS son. (Acts 1:15,16, 20-26)

 

So please...to each and every one of you reading these words...please do not hesitate to open up and express yourselves to the brothers and sisters around you...to us here on this site...and ultimately...to Jehovah, his Son...and the millions upon millions of angels who are all watching YOU.

 

After all...your words DO have meaning...and you never know how your individual expressions could move any one of US in ways that none of us had anticipated...including Jehovah.

[Dolce vita]

" Words have meaning " : So, so, so true, Tim ...

I'm probably making a mistake but it's a truth I apply  only when I read the Bible, for reasons we know: God's word, perfect words.

When I communicate with my neighbor I often ask myself questions: even if we both know the definition of a word, do we give it the same meaning, the same thickness or, on the contrary, the same lightness? How do I know that the other person hears what I say the way I say it?

 

 Very difficult to communicate, It’s sometimes even discouraging but should we give up? Never ! Just accept the possibility of misunderstandings, poorly said, misinterpreted. This is where Christian qualities enter the arena. Our words have meaning : indeed, brother Tim.😊

[Mike047]

17 hours ago, Dolce vita said:

Very difficult to communicate, It’s sometimes even discouraging but should we give up? Never

 This can also be a generation thing, too. We find that our fairly dated version of British English, being older people, does not 'map across' to the way younger people either talk or even think. Whether at the kingdom hall, in out pubic ministry, in our workplace or elsewhere, we find that many words have changed their meaning, other words have simply appeared. It isn't easy to adapt to these changes, but we try to do so whether seeking to make new disciples, or trying to encourage those with us, we seek to cope with the verbal challenges and pray that our words still have meaning.

[Dolce vita]

11 minutes ago, Mike047 said:

 Cela peut aussi être une question de génération. Nous constatons que notre version assez datée de l'anglais britannique, étant donné qu'elle est destinée aux personnes âgées, ne correspond pas à la façon dont les plus jeunes parlent ou même pensent. Que ce soit à la salle du royaume, dans notre ministère public, sur notre lieu de travail ou ailleurs, nous constatons que de nombreux mots ont changé de sens, d'autres sont simplement apparus. Il n'est pas facile de s'adapter à ces changements, mais nous essayons de le faire, que ce soit en cherchant à faire de nouveaux disciples ou en essayant d'encourager ceux qui sont parmi nous, nous cherchons à faire face aux défis verbaux et prions pour que nos paroles aient toujours un sens.

You are right, Brother Mike, in what you say. For my part, I wasn't talking so much about the vocabulary that evolves over time, but more about the meaning that we give to all these words between us, at the moment of the exchange.The question ultimately is: is my ear at the meeting point of your mouth and your heart?  Many language parameters come into play in the quality of a verbal exchange between two individuals. Jehovah hears something other than our words and His Word doesn't talk to our ears but to our heart.  He dissects the marrow of our intentions, but human beings cannot.

[Timl1980]

14 hours ago, Dolce vita said:

Jehovah hears something other than our words and His Word doesn't talk to our ears but to our heart.  He dissects the marrow of our intentions, but human beings cannot.

And that, my brother, was my point.

 

Jehovah understands us at the most intimate and most vulnerable milliseconds of our existence, when human understanding fails...when even our own mate or parents or closest friends fail to get a certain nuance or shade of meaning out of something we say or do... Jehovah is literally right there, his mind and heart understanding every single bit of it.

 

He judges us in that exact instant in time, not hours or days later. Because he has this ability, he is the PERFECT judge. To think that he has given that ability, that absolute trust to judge US,(in the exact same way), to His Son...is absolutely mind boggling to consider, because in all reality, that adds a whole different perspective to his humility.

 

Jesus had to LEARN a key ingredient of humility... obedience. Only after that did Jehovah turn all such judging over to his Son, and that is a point to meditate on deeply!

 

 

 

[Andrey]

Brother Tim: You have touched on a very serious and at the same time important subject. Today, to the daily verse of 16 February, there is the following addition: "We cannot force others to trust us. Trust has to be earned. It has been said that trust is like money. It is hard to earn and easy to lose." It is very difficult to find a person to have the courage to talk to him/her frankly, sincerely, to reveal his/her heart, pain of the soul, offences, disappointments, worries, joys, successes, family life...I remember the videos from the congress, where brothers and sisters shared their feelings, which they experienced when faced with life situations. You remember them, they were sitting in the basement. I still think about it, my heart still sinks, how open they were to each other. And if you notice, the situations are different and very confessional, not everyone can tell you that. And importantly, no-one judged, no-one said: "How could you! You're a Jehovah's Witness, you've been in the truth for so many years!" Your topic is broad and will touch on different situations of the Christian life. 

 

https://www.jw.org/en/library/videos/#en/mediaitems/2016Convention/pub-jwbcov_201605_8_VIDEO

 

https://www.jw.org/en/library/videos/#en/mediaitems/2016Convention/pub-jwbcov_201605_9_VIDEO

 

Very good topic!

Edited February 16 by Andrey

[Dolce vita]

34 minutes ago, Timl1980 said:

Et c’était là mon point de vue, mon frère.

 

Jéhovah nous comprend dans les millisecondes les plus intimes et les plus vulnérables de notre existence, lorsque la compréhension humaine échoue... lorsque même notre conjoint, nos parents ou nos amis les plus proches ne parviennent pas à obtenir une certaine nuance ou nuance de sens à quelque chose que nous disons ou faisons. .. Jéhovah est littéralement là, son esprit et son cœur en comprenant chaque instant.

 

Il nous juge à cet instant précis, pas des heures ou des jours plus tard. Parce qu’il a cette capacité, il est le juge PARFAIT. Penser qu'il a donné cette capacité, cette confiance absolue pour nous juger (exactement de la même manière) à son Fils... est absolument ahurissant à considérer, car en réalité, cela ajoute une perspective complètement différente à son humilité.

 

Jésus a dû APPRENDRE un ingrédient clé de l'humilité... l'obéissance. Ce n’est qu’après cela que Jéhovah a confié tout ce jugement à son Fils, et c’est un point sur lequel il convient de méditer profondément !

 

 

 

Beautiful !

[Mike047]

Trust has been compared to metal objects, like pedal bikes. While they are maintained and used, they work properly and give service, but when they are not used, left out in all weathers, ignored and forgotten the weather turns the metal to iron oxide, so too with trust if we don't maintain it, Trust becomes rust, and will be of no value to us.