Your Favorite Illustrations!

[Kalisto]

One of my favorite illustrations was used when my Father-in-law did the memorial talk for my Mom's funeral. He likened life to the tides of the ocean where the waves come in and out along the shoreline and how in death the tide receeds, but while that tide is out.... you can walk along the beach and pick up all sorts of little treasures sparkling in the sun that the water left behind, special memories of our loved one.... and hold onto those jewels and look forward to the day when the ocean will come back in with the hope of the resurrection.

A beautiful and very comforting illustration.

[LeapinLemurs]

I really enjoyed all the illustrations I read, it is what actually made me want to join this forum. I have a few I can share as well.

 

Worth a hundred dollars . . .

 

 

Just think about it: Jehovah could have chosen anyone he wanted to serve Him. But He reads HEARTS, and out of all the people on this planet, He chose you. Look at it this way ---

You walk into an antique shop. You look around and you see something you like. You turn it over and the price tag is $1,000. So you walk up to the till and you offer the shop owner $10. Imagine how he would react!

Now think of us. Jehovah PAID a dear price for you with the blood of His Son's sacrifice.

We are PRICELESS to Jehovah. You know that Jehovah would not pay the price if we were not worth it. Now, how do you think Jehovah feels if we place a much smaller price tag on ourselves? He would be insulted!

You are a very special person, priceless, hand-picked out of all the world of mankind personally by Jehovah to know the truth and to serve the greatest person in the universe. And He did all of this while we were still imperfect and unworthy of this honor.

You keep on hanging in there. Remember, Jehovah NEVER forgets his people and neither do we.

When you feel buffeted by the world and of little value, think of yourself as a hundred dollar bill. Would you accept a gift of a crisp new note? Of course! What if the bill were not new, but slightly used? Still, just as good, right? What if you found the bill in the mud? Still, worth a hundred, right? But what if it's tattered and smudged and the corners are worn? Is it worth any less? Not at all! Whether bright and new or battered and beaten, a hundred is still a hundred.

 

And we are precious to Jehovah and to our brothers, whether things are going fine or we have been through the mill. It's not the outer appearance or the current condition that determines worth, but what backs us up that gives us our value.

 

Our currency is backed by the First Universal Bank of Jehovah. And you will remain just as valuable as ever, as long as you stay in circulation.

 

So keep enduring, and one day we will all be

in 'mint condition'.

 

Agape,

from your fellow tattered banknote,

SPIRITUAL

[LeapinLemurs]

Here is another one I have stashed away....

 

 

 

Two Boxes

 

I have in my hands two boxes which Jehovah gave me to hold

He said, Put all your sorrows in the black box and all your joys in the gold

 

I heeded His words, and in the two boxes, Both my joys and sorrows I stored,

But though the gold became heavier each day, The black was as light as before.

 

With curiosity, I opened the black, I wanted to find out why,

And I saw, in the base of the box, a hole, Which my sorrows had fallen out by.

 

I prayed about this to Jehovah, and mused, I wonder where my sorrows could be!

Looking down on me with a gentle smile he said, My child, they're all here with me.

 

I asked Jehovah, why He gave me the boxes, Why the gold and the black with the hole?

My child, the gold is for you to count your blessings, The black is for you to let go.

 

Throw your burdens on Me, this is what Jehovah said.

As often as I've heard those words I'm afraid I never did.

 

From the pressures of everyday, I mistakenly leaned on me

But when entrusted with these two boxes it enabled me to see.

 

I saw that Jehovah is our fortress not just in times of distress.

We must place matters in his hands and he will take care of the rest.

 

The lesson of the two boxes rang through loud and clear.

Sometimes we listen to Jehovahs wisdom but do we always hear?

 

Do we worry about the bills, the car and house repairs?

When you stop and think about it; maybe that explains those grey hairs!

 

Are we overly anxious or do we count our blessings each day?

Do we seek first the kingdom and tuck the rest away?

 

Oh how loving of Jehovah to care so very much!

May we always learn to lean on him, in him put all our trust!

[LeapinLemurs]

Another day, another illustration

 

 

 

"Be Obedient and Push"

Jehovah told a certain man that he had work for him to do. This certain man had a large rock in front of his house and Jehovah explained that the man was to push against the rock with all his might. The man did this, day after day. For many years he toiled from sun rise to sun set, his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock, pushing with all his might. Each night the man returned home sore, worn out and feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain.

 

Seeing that the man was showing signs of discouragement, Satan decided to enter the picture and place a few thoughts into the man's weary mind: "You have been pushing against that rock for a long time, and it hasn't budged. Why kill yourself over this? You are never going to move it." This gave the man the impression that the task was impossible and that he was a failure.

 

These thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man. "Why kill myself over this?" he thought. "I'll just put in my time, give the minimum effort and that will be good enough." And that is what he planned to do until he decided to make it a matter of prayer and Take his troubled thoughts to Jehovah.

 

"Jehovah, I have labored long and hard in your service, putting all my strength to do what you have asked of me.. Yet, after all this time I have not even budged that rock by half a millimeter. What is wrong? Why am I failing?"

 

Then Jehovah responded compassionately, "When I asked you to serve and you accepted, I told you that your task was to push against the rock with all your strength, which you have done. Never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push. And now you come to me, with your strength spent, thinking that you have failed. But is that really so? Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled, your back is sinewed and brown, your hands are callused from constant pressure, and your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition you have grown much and your abilities now surpass that which you used to have. Yes, you haven't moved the rock but then all I ever asked was that you be obedient and push. It was through your works that you exercised faith in me.

 

This you have done, and now I will move the rock for you."

 

At times, when we may tend to think little of ourselves and our service to Jehovah and we become disheartened and discouraged, we need to remember what Jehovah asks of us and that is just simple obedience and faith in him.

 

By all means, exercise faith that moves mountains but know that it is still Jehovah who does the moving. When everything seems to go wrong, just PUSH.. When your job gets you down, just PUSH. When people don't react the way you think they should, just PUSH.. When people don't treat you kindly, just PUSH. When people reject you in the ministry just PUSH.

 

PUSH = Pray Until Something Happens!!!

[Qapla]

What would you do if you were walking down the street and, as you came to the corner, a man was there holding $100 bills. As you walked up to cross the street he handed you one. When you asked him what it was for he just said it was for you. When you asked why, he just smiled and said because he wanted to. Then, with a big smile on his face he told you he had a whole box full of $100 bills and would give one to anyone who wanted one ..... but they had to come while he was there because he wasn't staying all day - and when he left he would take the box with him.

 

Would you call you family and tell them they needed to get to this corner right away so they could get a $100 bill before the man left? Would you call you friends and tell them they needed to get to this corner right away so they could get a $100 bill before the man left? Would you walk down the street and tell strangers that they should get to the corner and get a $100 bill before the man left?

 

If you would, consider this ..... What Jehovah has given us is worth far more than $100. He will give it to anyone who really wants it. His offer does have an unknown time limit so time and action is important.

 

Are we as eager to tell others of Jehovah's free gift as we would be of that $100?

[Catalyst]

I might have posted this somewhere before. 

If so, apologies....

 

Harboring a grudge is like a slow cooker that you forget to turn off.

Over time the grudge becomes black and hardened and really difficult to get rid of.

We need to let go of resentment at an early stage.

[New World Explorer]

Nice one John I will keep it. I had some korean ladies call on me recently discussing heaven. I will log that Illustration in. I have 3 they are more experiences but I use them to illustrate. One District Assembly some years ago. A Sister gave the experience she come to wonder who God was. After sitting stuck in Sydney traffic on her way home. She saw a beautiful Sunset flashing accross the sky. Many beautiful colors and she Wondered who could make such a magnificient thing. Of she found out & was baptized the same day As she gave the experience. another. Was related. A brother to be. Was sitting out the back of the waves, waiting for his next ride. & he say the Dolphins up close, riding the surf, He thought well aren't they lucky, they can go anywhere they want to. The dolphins don't need a wetsuit or a steamer to go surfing. they `can come & go wherever they please. So on that note he said we wanted to know who was behind that great Idea? He too is a brother. Another friend He and his wife serve in Cambodia as missionaries. My brother in law. He & some friends when I was growing up In the truth. there was a few who like to surf. & My brother in law said to his friend now the missionary. How would you like to surf forever. So to speak..He was hooked on that Idea. this friend is In a Dvd that was made some years back. United In truth.Something like that I have to find it. but he relates That experience. So I love it when the Magazine articles talk about creation or the enviroment... I use these experiences in away to illustrate the positive side to God's kingdom.

Great illustration ... ! on a funny note .. I too love... to surf !!!!!  ....   t h e  I n t e r n e t !!!   

[surfergirl]

@Greg thanks.

cool picture.

[LeapinLemurs]

This was shared at a recent Sunday talk.

 

Theocratic Garden

 

 

In addition to the fruitage of the spirit, we should all be trying to cultivate a spiritual garden, which includes four vegetables,

at five rows of each.

 

The four vegetables are: peas, squash, turnips, and lettuce.

 

FIVE ROWS OF PEAS

Personal Study

Preaching

Preparation

Perseverance

Prayer

 

FIVE ROWS OF SQUASH:

Squash gossip

Squash jealousy

Squash anger

Squash contention

Squash strife

 

FIVE ROWS OF TURNIPS:

Turn up for the Service Meeting

Turn up for the Theocratic Ministry School

Turn up for the Book Study

Turn up for the Public Talk

Turn up for the Watchtower Study

 

FIVE ROWS OF LETTUCE:

Lettuce continue to show love for one another

Lettuce continue to press on to maturity

Lettuce keep ourselves without spot from the world

Lettuce keep a strong hold on the word of God

Lettuce do all we can to magnify Jehovah's name

 

May yours ever grow...

[LeapinLemurs]

There was an old man who always prayed, "Jehovah, prop us up on our leanin' side."

 

Someone asked him why he prayed that prayer so fervently. He answered, "Well, you see, it's like this.... I got an old barn out back. It's been there a long time, it's withstood a lot of weather, it's gone through a lot of storms, and it's stood for many years. It's still standing, but one day I noticed it was leaning to one side a bit. So I went and got some pine poles and propped it up on its leaning side so it wouldn't fall. Then I got to thinking 'bout that and how much I was like that old barn. I've been around a long time, I've withstood a lot of life's storms, I've withstood a lot of bad weather in life, I've withstood a lot of hard times, and I'm still standing too. But I find myself leaning to one side from time to time, so I like to ask Jehovah to prop us up on our leaning side, 'cause I figure a lot of us get to leaning, at times. Sometimes we get to leaning toward anger, leaning toward bitterness, leaning toward hatred, leaning toward cussing, leaning toward a lot of things that we shouldn't, so we need to pray, "Jehovah, prop us up on our leaning side," so we will stand straight and tall again, to glorify Jehovah. "Trust in Jehovah with all your heart and do not lean upon your own understanding. In all your ways take notice of him, and he himself will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5,6

[Tortuga]

Nice thread..

 

I used this in a talk one time.

 

Hydrogen is very flammable, oxygen is very flammable (actually it is an accelerator for other flammable material) and causes fires, yet Jehovah combined them into H2O which is used to put out fires!

 

Marriage can be made up of two individuals that may flare up or cause fires, but if Jehovah puts them together and stays in the marriage, the flames can be easily extinguished. 

[Chijwas]

Faith and Works. An old Scotsman was operating a small rowboat used for transporting passengers across one of the little lakes in Scotland.

One day a passenger noticed that he had carved on one oar the word "Faith" and on the other oar the word "Works."

Curiosity led one passenger to ask the meaning of this.

The old man said, "I will show you."

He put down the "Faith" oar and paddled with the other called "Works," and they just went around in circles.

Then he put down the "Works" oar and began to paddled with the one called "Faith," and the little boat went around in circles again — only this time in the other direction.

After this demonstration, the old man picked up both "Faith" and “Works" and paddled with both oars together sped swiftly over the water, explaining to his inquiring passenger, "You see, that's the way it is in life as well as in a boat.”

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[Chijwas]

Basket of diamonds. There was a King that had two slaves. The King told the slaves that he

would paid them a years wage if they would take the all the water out of his

well and dump into a wicker basket.

The slaves agreed to do the work. The first slave took a bucket and

filled it with water and dumped it into the wicker basket. He did this two or

three times and relized that he was not accomplishing anything so he told the

other slave " This is foolishness, we are not accomplishing anything, I am

leaving!"

The other slave tried to reason with the first slave saying

"The Master already paid us our wage, we have to do this!!!"

The first slave left anyway. The other slave picked up the bucket and

continued the work until the well was dry. When he finished he looked into the

basket and saw a basket full of diamonds. They were transparent to the eyes

while in the water.

When the master returned he praised the faithful slave and gave him the

basket of diamonds in addition to the wages he already had recieved.

In Jehovah's organization some times we do not always realize what we

are doing or why we might be doing something but Jehovah never asks us to do

anything that will harm us, and if we are a faithful servant of Jehovah's, he

will reward us with a treasure beyond imagination.

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[MizPeg]

That is such a wonderful illustration,thank you for posting it.It gives me a place to mentally put all of our loved ones who've passed away . They are traveling with us,just in the sleeper cars, how comforting that is to think about.

Well, we are all in the same boat, er, ah, train, aren't we?

 

(Y'all will just have to forgive my moment of brevity, in this string of posts.      )

[Chijwas]

One more for today, i think.....

Exclusive devotion. Jehovah's Witnesses are criticized because we don't celebrate holidays. Often lame arguments are used to justify the paganism in these celebrations. People think that since they're not involved in those things, it's merely a harmless diversion.

Is that in fact the case?

Consider this illustration:

What if a husband puts up a huge picture of an old girlfriend on his den wall? Would his wife permit this?

No wife in her right mind would permit such a thing.

What if the picture was quite small, perhaps even carried in his wallet?

Or put on his desk?

The size of the picture doesn't matter. The wife rightly feels she's entitled to exclusive devotion.

In the same way, Jehovah expects exclusive devotion, without even a small hint of false worship.

Even a little bit is unacceptable to him. Our worship must be whole-souled and exclusive.

So the amount of paganism in a holiday is not the issue.

They must all be rejected.

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[Tortuga]

One more for today, i think.....

Exclusive devotion. Jehovah's Witnesses are criticized because we don't celebrate holidays. Often lame arguments are used to justify the paganism in these celebrations. People think that since they're not involved in those things, it's merely a harmless diversion.

Is that in fact the case?

Consider this illustration:

What if a husband puts up a huge picture of an old girlfriend on his den wall? Would his wife permit this?

No wife in her right mind would permit such a thing.

What if the picture was quite small, perhaps even carried in his wallet?

Or put on his desk?

The size of the picture doesn't matter. The wife rightly feels she's entitled to exclusive devotion.

In the same way, Jehovah expects exclusive devotion, without even a small hint of false worship.

Even a little bit is unacceptable to him. Our worship must be whole-souled and exclusive.

So the amount of paganism in a holiday is not the issue.

They must all be rejected.

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I like that one!

[Chijwas]

Silence, unacceptable.

We've all heard about the boy who cried "wolf".

A similar legend tells of an ancient village with walls and watchmen. Sensing that the people had begun to resent them for giving these false alarms, they decided to remain quiet. Too bad, for soon thereafter the enemy did come.

The city was assaulted and raized, leaving smoking ruins. A memorial was later erected that said, "Here stood a town that was destroyed by silence."

Christians must remember that Jehovah has appointed them as "watchmen" to the world.

Silence is unacceptable behavior.

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[Chijwas]

Appearances can de deceiving.

Not everyone is as pure as he seems. Like black oyster harvesters. They plant a plastic bead in an oyster and replace it in its environment. The oyster proceeds to coat the plastic with its mother of pearl and voila a black oyster. Genuine through and through? No!

Worldly associates are like that. Look good outside. Inside not the real thing.

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[Tortuga]

Our public speaker gave an interesting illustration today. He talked about how strong an egg is, how you can pick it up generally without breaking it, yet a new born chick can peck on it from the inside and easily break it.

 

He used that to illustrate that we may be able to cope with external pressures easier than we can cope with internal pressures. He applied that to the need to stay strong and minimize the fears and pressures within.

[Rajan]

external and internal pressure  ----

 

When an egg is broken from outside, it kills a life.

When an egg is broken from inside, it gives a life.

Edited August 3, 2015 by Rajan

[Friends just call me Ross]

Getting involved in the political affairs of Satan's wicked world

is like rearranging the deck furniture on the Titanic.

It ain't gonna change the outcome.  This septic system of things is goin' DOWN.

 

We need to stay in Jehovah's lifeboat/organization and help as many people as possible to

abandon Satan's sinking ship and join us.  And, if we stay in the center of the lifeboat, and

stay busy rowing/preaching, we won't fall overboard and drown.

 

The other illustration I really love is the one comparing members of the various congregations

to tools in a carpenter's toolbox.  Some are blunt, some are cutting, some are grating, some are

forceful, some are loud and some are quiet, but the Carpenter(Jesus) has a need and a use for

all of his 'tools'.  No 'tool' is greater, or lesser, than another. The hammer is useless without 

the nail and the nail is useless without the hammer.

When used together, all the tools will get the job done/the Good News preached.

 

I remember hearing this illustration in a C.O.'s talk called,

I think, "The Carpenter's Tools"...or something like that.  

 

Anybody else recall hearing a talk by that title?   

[Tortuga]

I think, "The Carpenter's Tools"...or something like that.  

 

Anybody else recall hearing a talk by that title?   

Funny that you should mention that, our speaker read that little story yesterday. I was going to search for it here.

[Friends just call me Ross]

Funny that you should mention that, our speaker read that little story yesterday. I was going to search for it here.

So...What did you think of the story? I use it as a constant reminder.   

[Tortuga]

I found this on a Christian website. Apparently it is a well known Christian parable. The version that I heard yesterday was changed a little bit, there was a drill and mattock in the story and everyone was building a KH.

 

The Carpenter's Tools 

 

Brother Hammer served as the chairman. The other members of the tool belt informed him that he must leave, because he was too noisy. But brother Hammer said, "If I have to leave this carpenter's shop, then brother Gimlet must go too. He's insignificant and makes a very small impression." (A gimlet is a small tool with a screw point, grooved shank, and a cross handle for boring holes). 

 

 Little brother Gimlet arose and said, "All right, but brother Screwdriver must go also. You have to turn him around and around to get anywhere with him." 

 

 Brother Screwdriver turned to the other tools in the belt and said, "If you wish, I will go, but brother Plane must leave too. All of his work is on the surface; there's no depth to what he does." 

 

 To this brother Plane leveled his terse reply, "Well, then, brother Saw will have to depart too. The changes he proposes always cut too deep." 

 

 Brother Saw complained, saying, "Brother Ruler will have to withdraw if I leave, for he's always measuring other folks as though he were the only one who is right." 

 

 Brother Ruler then surveyed the group and said, "Brother Sandpaper doesn't belong here either. He's rougher than he ought to be, and is always rubbing people the wrong way." 

 

 In the midst of the discussion, the Carpenter of Nazareth walked in. He had come to perform his day's work. He put on His tool belt and went to the workbench to make a pulpit. He employed the ruler, the saw, the plane, the hammer, the gimlet, the screwdriver, the sandpaper, and all the other tools. When the day's work was over, the pulpit was finished, and the carpenter went home. All the accusations against each of these tools were absolutely true, yet the carpenter used every one of them. No matter which tool He use, no other tool could have done the work better. 

 

 THOUGHT: We are all "tools"" in Jesus' tool box. Each of us has a purpose, ability, and a task to perform. 

[ReadYourBible]

Heh. I'm a little ball peen hammer.