DO NOT BECOME FORGETFUL HEARERS
“Become doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves with false reasoning. “—JAMES 1:22.
UNFORGETTABLE” would be a good word to describe the miracles per-formed by Jehovah in ancient Egypt. Each one of the Ten Plagues was undeniably awe-some. Those blows were followed by the amazing deliverance of the people of Israel through the parted waters of the Red Sea. (Deuteronomy 34:10-12) If you had been an eyewitness of those events, hopefully you would never have forgotten the One respon-sible for them. Yet, the psalmist sang: “They [the Israelites] forgot God their Sav-ior, the Doer of great things in Egypt, wonder-ful works in the land of Ham, fear-inspiring things at the Red Sea.”—Psalm 106:21, 22.
1. What miracles were the people of ancient Israel privileged to witness?
After crossing the Red Sea, the Israel-ites “began to fear Jehovah and to put faith in Jehovah.” (Exodus 14:31) The men of Isra-el joined Moses in a victory song to Jehovah, and Miriam and other women responded by playing tambourines and dancing. (Exodus 15:1, 20) Yes, God’s people were impressed with Jehovah’s mighty acts. But their appre-ciation for the One who performed those acts was short-lived. Soon afterward many of them behaved as though they had suffered a major memory loss. They became murmurers and complainers against Jehovah. Some en-gaged in idolatry and sexual immorality.—Numbers 14:27; 25:1-9.
2.What shows that Israel’s appreciation for God’s mighty acts was short-lived?
What Could Make Us Forget?
Israel’s lack of appreciation is indeed per-plexing. Still, the same thing could happen to us. True, we have not witnessed such divine miracles. In our relationship with God, how-ever, there surely have been occasions that were unforgettable. Some of us may remem-ber when we accepted the truth from the Bi-ble. Other joyful times may include our prayer of dedication to Jehovah and our wa-ter baptism as true Christians. Many of us have experienced Jehovah’s helping hand at other points in our life. (Psalm 118:15) Above all, through the sacrificial death of God’s own Son, Jesus Christ, we have received the hope of salvation. (John 3:16) Nevertheless, be-cause of our imperfect nature, when faced with wrong desires and the anxieties of life, we may too easily forget the good things that Jehovah has done for us.
3. Because of our imperfect nature, what could we forget?
In his letter to fellow Christians, Jesus’ half brother James warned about the danger of being forgetful hearers. He wrote: “Become doers of the word, and not hearers only, de-ceiving yourselves with false reasoning. For if anyone is a hearer of the word, and not a doer, this one is like a man looking at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself, and off he goes and immediately forgets what sort of man he is.” (James 1:22-24) What did James mean by those words?
When we get up in the morning, we usu-ally look in the mirror to see what adjust-ments we need to make to our appearance. As we engage in various activities and the mind focuses on other things, we stop thinking about what we saw in the mirror. This can happen in a spiritual sense too. As we look into the Word of God, we can compare what we are with what Jehovah expects us to be. Hence, we come face-to-face with our weak-nesses. This knowledge should motivate us to make adjustments in our personality. But as we go about our daily activities and struggle with our problems, we can easily stop think-ing about spiritual matters. (Matthew 5:3; Luke 21:34) It is as if we forget God’s loving acts in our behalf. If this should happen, we become vulnerable to sinful inclinations.
4,.5. (a) How does James warn about the danger of being forgetful hearers? (b) How can we apply James’ illustration of the man and the mirror?
In his first inspired letter to the Corinthi-ans, the apostle Paul refers to the forgetful Is-raelites in the wilderness. Just as first-century Christians benefited from Paul’s words, re-viewing what he wrote can help us not to for-get Jehovah’s word. Let us therefore consider 1 Corinthians 10:1-12.
6.What Scriptural consideration can help us not to forget Jehovah’s word?
Repudiate Worldly Desires
What Paul says about the Israelites serves as a warning for Christians. In part, Paul writes: “I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea and all got baptized into Moses by means of the cloud and of the sea.” (1 Corinthians 10:1-4) The people of Israel in Moses’ day had seen great manifestations of God’s power, includ-ing God’s miraculous pillar of cloud that led them by day and that helped them to escape through the Red Sea. (Exodus 13:21; 14:21, 22) Yes, those Israelites received undeniable evi-dence of Jehovah’s love for them.
7. What undeniable evidence of Jehovah’s love did the Israelites receive?
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“Nevertheless,” Paul continues, “on most of them God did not express his approval, for they were laid low in the wilderness.” (1 Co-rinthians 10:5) How sad! Most of the Israelites who left Egypt disqualified themselves from entering the Promised Land. Disapproved by God for their lack of faith, they died in the wil-derness. (Hebrews 3:16-19) What can we learn from this? Paul says: “These things became our examples, for us not to be persons desiring injurious things, even as they desired them.”—1 Corinthians 10:6.
8. What were the consequences of Israel’s spiritual forgetfulness?
The Israelites had plenty to keep them spir-itually focused while in the wilderness. They entered into a covenant with Jehovah and be-came a nation dedicated to him. Moreover, they were given a priesthood, a tabernacle as a center of worship, and a provision for offer-ing sacrifices to Jehovah. Rather than rejoic-ing over these spiritual gifts, however, they al-lowed themselves to become dissatisfied with God’s material provisions.—Numbers 11:4-6.
9. How had Jehovah provided for his people, and how did Israel react?
Unlike the Israelites in the wilderness, Je-hovah’s people today enjoy God’s approval. As individuals, though, it is vital that we keep God in our thoughts. Doing so will help us to reject selfish cravings that could cloud our spiritual vision. We must be determined “to repudiate ungodliness and worldly desires and to live with soundness of mind and righteous-ness and godly devotion amid this present sys-tem of things.” (Titus 2:12) Those of us who since infancy have been associated with the Christian congregation should never think that we are missing out on something good. Should such thoughts ever cross our minds, we do well to remember Jehovah and the wonderful blessings he has in store for us.—He-brews 12:2, 3.
10. Why should we always keep God in our thoughts?
Total Obedience to Jehovah
Paul gives us another word of caution when he writes: “Neither become idolaters, as some of them did; just as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and they got up to have a good time.’” (1 Corinthians 10:7) Paul is referring to the occasion when the Is-raelites prevailed upon Aaron to make a gold-en calf. (Exodus 32:1-4) Although it is un-likely that we would turn to outright idol worship, we could become idolaters by al-lowing our own selfish desires to distract us from worshiping Jehovah whole-souled.—Co-lossians 3:5.
On another occasion, Paul wrote about some who were concerned mainly with mate-rial things rather than with spiritual matters. Concerning those “walking as the enemies of the torture stake of the Christ,” he wrote:
“Their finish is destruction, and their god is their belly.” (Philippians 3:18, 19) The object of their idolatry was not a carved image. It was their desire for physical things. Of course, not all desires are wrong. Jehovah created us with human needs and the ability to enjoy various pleasures. But those who place the pursuit of pleasure above their relationship with God do, indeed, become idolaters.—2 Timothy 3:1-5.
11, 12. How could a person become guilty of idol-atry without engaging in the veneration of images?
After they left Egypt, the Israelites made a golden calf to worship. In addition to the warning against idolatry, there is another im-portant lesson in this account. The Israelites disobeyed clear direction from Jehovah. (Exo-dus 20:4-6) Yet, they did not intend to reject Jehovah as their God. They made sacrifices to the molten calf and called the occasion “a festival to Jehovah.” Somehow they deceived themselves into thinking that God would ig-nore their disobedience. This was an insult to Jehovah, and it angered him greatly.—Exodus 32:5, 7-10; Psalm 106:19, 20.
13. What can we learn from the account of the golden calf?
It would be very unusual for one of Jeho-vah’s Witnesses to join a false religion. While remaining in the congregation, however, some might reject Jehovah’s direction in oth-er ways. The people of Israel had no excuse for becoming forgetful hearers. They heard the Ten Com-mandments and were present when Moses gave them God’s command: “You must not make along with me gods of silver, and you must not make gods of gold for yourselves.” (Exodus 20:18, 19, 22, 23) Still, the Israelites worshiped the golden calf.
We too would have no valid excuse if we were to be-come forgetful hearers. In the Scriptures, we have direction from God regarding many areas of life. For example, Je-hovah’s Word specifically condemns the practice of bor-rowing and not paying back. (Psalm 37:21) Children are commanded to be obedient to their parents, and fathers are ex-pected to bring up their children in the “mental-regulating of Jehovah.” (Ephesians 6:1-4) Single Christians are instructed to mar-ry “only in the Lord,” and married servants of God are told: “Let marriage be honorable among all, and the marriage bed be with-out defilement, for God will judge fornicators and adulterers.” (1 Corinthians 7:39; Hebrews 13:4) If we are determined not to become for-getful hearers, we will take these and other di-rectives from God very seriously and will com-ply with them.
14, 15. (a) Why did the Israelites have no excuse for becoming forgetful hearers? (b) If we are deter-mined not to become forgetful hearers, what will we do with regard to Jehovah’s commandments?
Jehovah did not accept the Israelites’ at-tempt to worship him on their own terms. Rather, 3,000 were destroyed, probably for the prominent role they played in the rebellious action of worshiping the golden calf. Other wrongdoers suffered a plague from Jehovah. (Exodus 32:28, 35) What a lesson for any who read God’s Word but choose for themselves what they want to obey!
16. What were the consequences of worshiping the golden calf?
“Flee From Fornication”
One area wherein fleshly desires can in-duce spiritual forgetfulness is brought up by Paul when he says: “Neither let us practice for-nication, as some of them committed forni-cation, only to fall, twenty-three thousand of them in one day.” (1 Corinthians 10:8) Here Paul refers to an incident on the Plains of Moab at the end of Israel’s 40-year trek through the wilderness. The Israelites had re-cently received Jehovah’s help in conquering lands east of the Jordan, but many proved to be forgetful and unappreciative. At the border of the Promised Land, they were enticed into sexual immorality and the unclean worship of the Baal of Peor. Some 24,000 were destroyed, 1,000 of whom were ringleaders.—Num-bers 25:9.
17. To what event was 1 Corinthians 10:8 referring?
Jehovah’s people today are well-known for their high moral standards. But when tempted with sexual immorality, some Chris-tians have stopped thinking about God and his principles. They have become forgetful hearers. At first, the temptation may not in-volve an act of fornication. It may be an incli-nation to delve into pornography, to indulge in improper jesting or flirting, or to pursue close association with morally weak individ-uals. All of these things have led Chris-tians into sinful conduct.—1 Corinthians 15:
33; James 4:4.
18. What kind of conduct can lead to sexual immo-rality?
If tempted to engage in immoral conduct, we must not stop thinking about Jehovah. Rather, we must observe the reminders in his Word. (Psalm 119:1, 2) As Christians, most of us do our utmost to remain morally clean, but doing what is right in God’s eyes calls for con-tinuous effort. (1 Corinthians 9:27) To Chris-tians in Rome, Paul wrote: “Your obedience has come to the notice of all. I therefore rejoice over you. But I want you to be wise as to what is good, but innocent as to what is evil.” (Ro-mans 16:19) Just as the 24,000 Israelites were executed for their sins, fornicators and other wrongdoers will soon experience Jehovah’s adverse judgment. (Ephesians 5:3-6) Instead of becoming forgetful hearers, then, we must continue to “flee from fornication.”—l Corin-thians 6:18.
19. What Scriptural counsel helps us to “flee from fornication”?
Always Appreciate Jehovah’s Provisions
The vast majority of Christians never suc-cumb to sexual immorality. Yet, we need to be careful that we do not allow ourselves to pur-sue a course that leads to a pattern of mur-muring that could result in divine disapprov-al. Paul admonishes us: “Neither let us put Jehovah to the test, as some of [the Israel-ites] put him to the test, only to perish by the serpents. Neither be murmurers, just as some of them murmured, only to perish by the de-stroyer.” (1 Corinthians 10:9, 10) The Israel-ites murmured against Moses and Aaron yes, even against God himself—complaining about the miraculously provided manna. (Numbers 16:41; 21:5) Was Jehovah less of-fended by their murmuring than by their for-nication? The Bible account shows that many murmurers were killed by serpents. (Numbers 21:6) On an earlier occasion, more than 14,700 rebellious murmurers were destroyed. (Numbers 16:49) So let us not put Jehovah’s patience to the test by treating his provisions with disrespect.
20.How did the Israelites put Jehovah to the test, and what was the result?
In writing to fellow Christians, Paul con-cludes the list of warnings with the exhor-tation: “Now these things went on befalling them as examples, and they were written for a warning to us upon whom the ends of the sys-tems of things have arrived. Consequently let him that thinks he is standing beware that he does not fall.” (1 Corinthians 10:11, 12) Like the Israelites, we have received many blessings from Jehovah. Unlike them, however, may we never forget and fail to appreciate the good things God is doing for us. When life’s anxi-eties weigh us down, let us reflect on the won-derful promises found in his Word. May we remember our precious relationship with Je-hovah and continue to do the Kingdom preaching work that has been entrusted to us. (Matthew 24:14; 28:19, 20) Such a course is sure to bring us true happiness, for the Scrip-tures promise: “He who peers into the perfect law that belongs to freedom and who persists in it, this man, because he has become, not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, will be happy in his doing it.”—James 1:25.
21. (a) What exhortation was Paul inspired to write? (b) According to James 1:25, how can we be truly happy?
How Would You Answer?
• What could make us forgetful hearers?
• Why is total obedience to God essential?
• How can we “flee from fornication”?
• What should be our attitude toward Jehovah’s provisions?