Watchtower Study, “Be Transformed by Renewing Your Mind,” Week of March 6-12, 2023, Practical Comments and Answers.

Study of the Watchtower, "Be transformed by renewing your mind", 6-12-March-2023, Comments and Answers.

"Be transformed by renewing your mind, so that you can verify for yourselves what is the good, pleasing and perfect will of God" (ROM. 12:2).

1, 2. What should we continue to do after baptism, and why?

Just like a house that has to be constantly cleaned so that society and dust do not accumulate in the same way, once baptized we must strive not to contaminate ourselves with dirt and dust.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

In the same way, once baptized we must strive not to contaminate ourselves with the dirt and dust of this world dominated by Satan, it is important to always be presentable before Jehovah in what has to do with our thoughts, our personality and our desires.

As the apostle Paul said in Ephesians 4:23, we must continue renewing our way of thinking so that our thoughts, our personality, and our desires are always pleasing to Jehovah, and in some way are not contaminated by the attitudes of this world.

LET'S KEEP RENEWING OUR MIND

3. What does it mean to renew our mind? (Romans 12:2).

Renewing our mind implies that we must examine ourselves and make the necessary changes so that our lives conform as much as possible to Jehovah's standards.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Yes it also says that this should be constantly not just one time.

Well, it implies examining ourselves and any defect that we see that we have or any tendency, because we have to change that which is hard work, well yes, we already know that. But we must make every effort to carry out Jehovah's rules on a daily basis, because if we do things for a day or two well, that is not the case, we have to change to do things the way we do. Jehovah wants.

4. What should we do so that this system does not influence our way of thinking

As long as we are imperfect we must continue fighting so that this system does not defeat us and we must by all means have an active attitude in spiritual things.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

It is very important that we analyze ourselves to see to what degree God's way of thinking influences our goals and decisions.

When the apostle Paul said those words in Romans 12:2 Stop conforming to this system, he is talking about this system referring to the world situation or to the characteristics that distinguish a time and an era, and that make it particular, then We see that the system that we are living right now is an iniquitous system, a Materialistic system that predominates over pleasures over other things than the worship of God. So when it refers to that, it is that we have to make an effort so that the system does not mold us, it is also our will that we have to put so that we can do the will of God and not the will of this world.

5. How can we know what we think about how close the day of Jehovah is? (See pictures).

Jehovah says that his day is very close so it is good that we ask ourselves the following Questions: “Does it show in my life that I really understand that the end of this system is very close? Do my educational and work decisions reflect that serving Jehovah is most important to me? Do I have faith that he will take care of me and my family, or am I always worried about material things? It is good to reflect on these questions so that the day of the Lord does not catch us off guard.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Yes, well here a series of questions are suggested to us, for example one of them is, if it is seen in my life that I really understand that the end of this system is very close and Second Peter 3:12 talks about that we have to be waiting and being very aware of the presence of the day of Jehovah, and being very busy not in our life and being attentive to the events that we are seeing every day.

And sometimes we might think that it is easy to make those decisions, but it is not because as we read in Matthew 6:25,27,30. We have to trust in Jehovah and have absolute faith that just as he takes care of the animals and plants, he will also take care of us and that when we launch ourselves into making those decisions, we are going to totally fall into in his arms and we will trust him.

And we also see that at the end of the effort when we ask ourselves these questions and manage to make an effort to live according to what Jehovah wants, it is very good to know that Jehovah feels happy because in Philippians 4:12,13. The Apostle Paul said that he had already learned the secret of being satisfied with little or much, but the most important thing is that for everything he says that he had the strength of that being that imparted it to him. So if we make an effort, Jehovah is going to be there with us, we must trust.

ILLUSTRATION

And so we see it reflected in the image that we see of that young man in the situation of deciding not what he is going to do with his future, if he is going to go to university or what or perhaps he is going to dedicate himself full time to Jehovah. So now he analyzes the situation in which we are living and how to compose the interests of the kingdom in the first place, since it will affect his decision.

Image series: A young Christian decides between two goals. 1. He imagines that he is a businessman who is giving a conference. 2. You imagine giving a Bible class to a man. Do our decisions about education and work reflect that the Kingdom comes first in our lives? (See paragraphs 4 and 5).

6. What should we continue to do?

We must constantly examine our way of thinking and get to work to make any changes that are necessary.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

It is important to continue reading the Bible the word of God and learn to think as Jehovah thinks and try to correct anything that we have to change.

And the fact that they continue to examine themselves means that there is no end, it is something that we have to do continuously, because in the end we live in this system and we are bombarded with influences, ideas, we ourselves are changing and our personality can change, so it is important that we follow the advice to do it continuously.

From what the paragraph indicates, it may be that we are going to the meetings, preaching, but our way of thinking is being affected by what surrounds us, by the system that is around us, and we continue to come to the meetings, but yes, We notice that this trend is affecting our way of thinking that only we know, it is where we have to make the changes where we have to examine ourselves and say yes, I am going to the meeting, but my way of thinking agrees with what I am learning And if not, then we must make those changes.

LET'S PUT ON THE NEW PERSONALITY

7. According to Ephesians 4:31, 32, what else must we do, and why might it be difficult to do?

Those words of Ephesians 4:31, 32 motivate us to put on a new personality, putting aside that old personality and continue striving to improve day by day, even if we are baptized.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

We must work hard to leave behind our personality defects such as bitter resentment, fury and anger. And this can be difficult because some of these defects are deeply rooted in us.

Because sometimes these defects are deeply rooted in ourselves, but as Proverbs 29:22 says, a man prone to anger causes conflict, we do not want to be this type of person, but rather the opposite, we have to keep trying and when they are so ingrained, even after baptism.

The first thing we have to do is recognize, if we are prone to or if we have tendencies from the past, if we do not recognize it, it will be difficult for us, that is why throughout the article he is talking about continually examining ourselves, the examination comes from there, I continue with my tendency old of being aggressive that bothers me the most, then go eliminating one by one.

8, 9. How does Stephen's experience show the importance of continuing to shed the old self?

Once this brother was baptized, he had to fight with an old tendency that had anger, rage and resentment and this was evidenced when he was preaching and they were stealing the radio from his car and he ran after the thief, almost He caught up with him but the thief threw the radio and kept running. When he meets up with the group, he tells the group what happened and a mature brother asks him, if you had caught up with him, what would you have done to him? he recognized that the old personality had returned again something that he had already mastered returned to Bloom. This shows us that we are imperfect and have to deal with flaws all the time.

The apostle Paul said when he wanted to do what is right what is bad is with him. So this shows us that we have to always remember that we are imperfect, so it is not something that we have put on the new personality and it is going to be forever. But it really is something that we have to continue making an effort every day to fight against.

10. What can we do to fight against personality defects? (1 John 5:14, 15).

If we have any personality defect, let's ask Jehovah in prayer to help us improve. Of course, Jehovah will not miraculously eliminate our defects, but he will give us the strength so that he does not dominate us.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

We do need to act in a manner or in relation to our prayers. So let's do our part too and avoid anything that might bring to mind the bad tendencies we have.

In this article we are looking at how to transform our mind and we know that it is very difficult to control our thoughts, because they can travel from one place to another quickly. And if we are talking precisely about personality defects of thoughts that hurt us or encourage us to do things that do not take into account what Jehovah wants. In Colossians Chapter 3 verse 2 explains it very well, it says that if those bad thoughts arrive that can lead us to commit some sin or to be in a negative state of mind, we have to completely discard them, so it is good that every time they arrive a thought that is not appropriate let us reject it completely.

11. How can we continue to cultivate the new personality?

One way to continue cultivating the new personality is by setting goals to imitate Jehovah and cultivate his qualities and learn from the Bible stories where forgiveness was manifested, that is, cultivating the new personality is an ongoing job.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Well, we set the goal of getting to know Jehovah and his qualities better and copying his example, and that is what we do every day, copying his example and his qualities.

Ephesians 5:1,2 mentions that we imitate Jehovah as beloved children. when a son sees the qualities of his father, he sees how he behaves, sees how he treats others, because the most reasonable thing is that when he grows up he will be the same. So we in the same way if we see the stories of the Bible that Jehovah is merciful that he forgives or that he is empathetic with his with his servants, well we are going to learn it and it is going to help us polish that new personality.

12. How does Stephen's example show that the Bible has power to transform people?

He mentions that little by little he managed to put on the new personality, he explains, since my baptism there have been times when it has been difficult for me to control my temper. What I do is leave to avoid fights or try to calm the situation. Many people, including my wife, have congratulated him on his reaction and even he himself is surprised. He mentions that the merit is not his, but the Bible, which truly transforms the people.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Well, he mentions that little by little he has managed to put on this new personality. And although it is true that there have been times when he has had to control that temper, Well, he says that what he does is leave to avoid a fight or calm the situation. So what he recognizes is that these changes in his personality are not something he did, but rather are a sign of the power that the Bible has to transform people.

It is true that we are imperfect but we are not alone in this, if not to trust, as he did, that the Bible has the power to change us.

LET'S KEEP FIGHTING AGAINST INCORRECT DESIRES

13. What will help us to nurture correct desires? (Galatians 5:16).

What will help us not to have any wrong desire is asking his holy spirit for help so as not to give in to temptations and regularly attending meetings and having a close friendship with our brothers, only in this way Jehovah will give us the strength not to let ourselves be carried away by the ill wishes.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Put ourselves under the influence of Jehovah's Holy Spirit, we do this when we study his word, attend meetings, and when we pray to Jehovah asking for his help to overcome any weakness we may have.

Well, because in the meetings we spend time with our brothers who are also struggling against things just like us, so that helps us.

In Matthew 18:20 it says because where two or three are gathered in my name there I am, and here we are more than three, then his holy spirit is here with us.

Hebrews 13:7 is cited together with this reasoning by the meetings, where it is said that we must imitate him. The example of our brothers who are in the congregation and who continue to fight against these trends when we know our brothers well and see how they have managed to overcome or are making an effort to continue to overcome these situations, because that gives us the encouragement to continue fighting. .

14. Why is it important to keep cultivating correct desires?

It is important to cultivate the right desires because one of our enemies such as temptation never sleeps even after being baptized we may have to fight with some wrong desire and a bad habit like gambling abusing alcohol or watching pornography.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

We have heard it said that the most difficult thing is not to get there, but rather to stay, and that it is true that we make a great effort to get there, but afterward we have to stay, because we have many negative influences, after being baptized there are always many problems, also in all senses, the paragraph talks about problems with money, with alcohol, with, as our enemies say, temptation never sleeps, so the key is to keep feeding the right desires.

Yes, the paragraph marks us in bold, "Let's continue" we can say that these temptations or these desires are like a fire that tries to destroy us and the correct desires that we continue to cultivate are like the water that helps us try to extinguish that fire, perhaps never we manage to extinguish it completely, but we will not make it not end everything. As our brother says, sometimes one has incorrect feelings and although he thinks that he has overcome them, at the end of the paragraph he says that he continues to fight against them. so, well, you have to always keep working on it, so as not to remain passive.

15. Why are we encouraged to know that wrong desires are common to all people? (See picture).

In the image we can see how these brothers managed to overcome some evil desire. Like the Corinthian Christians, although they were Anointed, they had to fight against some evil desire. That encourages us, because it shows us that others have already gone through the same thing as us and have won the battle.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Yes because it doesn't make us feel weird, I'm just struggling with this. But we know that more people also have that fight and some have even managed to win it, so that encourages us. Because if they have won it, then we can too, and if not, then following like the others, ask Jehovah for the strength to continue enduring.

Although the world changes, we continue to have the same imperfection, so when we see examples from the past like these brothers who were not from the first century who were even Anointed, we can see that they went through the same weaknesses that we face and they won, with which that It encourages us because even though time passes we are still the same people and we continue fighting with the same desires.

It may also be that those bad desires come when after we have already been baptized, and perhaps we are mature in a spiritual sense. As we can see in the image there are several brothers, so it may be that this lowers our self-esteem a bit, we can say if I shouldn't be thinking about fighting with this, but that is not what the Watchtower teaches us, it teaches us that not everyone No matter how long we have baptized we can face, So that encourages us to keep fighting.

16. What trap should we not fall into, and why?

We must not fall into the trap of thinking that our situation is hopeless, and that we cannot overcome it, we have Jehovah's help and he will not leave us alone.

But the Bible tells us otherwise, that God is faithful and will not let them be tempted beyond what we can bear. But when temptation comes, it will also give us the way out to be able to endure.

Yes, the paragraph highlights two phrases, which is that we can be faithful to Jehovah, no matter how intense the desire is, we have to be clear that with Jehovah's help we can not get carried away by this desire.

ILLUSTRATION

A sister and two brothers read the Bible. Behind them appear some obstacles that they had to overcome and that are represented by boxing gloves, some bottles with alcoholic beverages, a cigarette, a weapon, a deck of cards, dice and chips to play for money. If we are struggling with a weakness, let's not think that our situation is hopeless. Other Christians have won the battle. (See paragraphs 15 and 16).

17. Although it is inevitable to have wrong desires, what can we do?

Wrong desires will always be present, but when it occurs we must have the same attitude that Joseph had who firmly rejected it, we do not have to be a slave to desire.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Yes, we see that we have to be firm because we have the example of Joseph, when he was also tempted to have immoral relationships, he fled, that is, he did it quickly. And that can happen to us so that we are not slaves to sin.

And going back to the example of Joseph, surely Joseph did not have an evil desire on his part when Potiphar's wife approached him. However, surely before he had had desires that he quickly discarded from his head, and that is why he was prepared so that when this test came to him, he could act immediately. Well, we don't have to be slaves to those evil desires, but when these desires come we try to get rid of them from our heads and so when we have to face any test we will be prepared.

LET'S KEEP WORKING

18, 19. What questions will help us continue to renew our minds?

The questions that will help us to continue renewing our minds are: “Do my actions show that I am aware that we are very close to the end? Am I still cultivating the new personality? Do I allow the spirit of Jehovah to guide me so that I do not get carried away by evil desires?

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

This paragraph helps us to do a self-examination, for example we can ask ourselves, do my actions show that I am aware that we are very close to the end.

We could well comment that if we have been wanting for a long time or are fighting against some tendency or difficulty, if as the question says we think that we are close to the time of the end and we have not achieved it for years, perhaps we think that perhaps or maybe in Let's do it in the future, but we can't take too long either, because if not, perhaps this system could cause our minds to fall into other things that a world offers, and in the end that desire that we have not achieved for many years in this short time that we remains may also be a futile struggle.

WHAT WOULD YOU ANSWER?

What should we do to renew our mind?

We must constantly examine ourselves to see if we need to make changes in our personality and make the changes as soon as possible.

ADDITIONAL COMMENT

Yes, as we have seen, we must examine how we are within ourselves and make the necessary changes, and as we have been seeing, we must do it constantly and not have a passive attitude, which would lead them to let us be molded by this system. Rather, we must constantly be listening with all this attitude.

We must also seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit and we do this, because when we study his word when we attend meetings and when we pray to Jehovah to ask him to help us with our weaknesses.

What should we do to put on the new personality?

It is important to ask Jehovah in prayer to help us improve and try not to put on that old personality that we had before.

ADDITIONAL COMMENT

And some more things that this article says, that we ask Jehovah in prayer to help us leave that old personality, and put on the new one, and also that we not feed bad tendencies, because that will undoubtedly prevent or stop this progress, progress in this regard, very good and the last review question, what should we do to fight against wrong desires.

What should we do to fight wrong desires?

Studying the word of God the Bible and asking for his Holy Spirit to help us not have incorrect desires, it is important to have a close friendship with our brothers in the congregation in that way we will not feed incorrect desires.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Well, at the end of paragraph 10, there were two quotes: Colossians 3:2, which said that we should focus our minds on things above, and Philippians 4:18, which brings us a list of things that we can focus our minds on, says those that are true, serious, just, chaste, that inspire love that has things that have a good reputation and virtuous and praiseworthy things.

We must also avoid the trap of thinking that our situation has no remedy, that is what Satan wants and remember that thanks to Jehovah. We will always have the way out of the temptation that we have and we have the example of many brothers who remind us that this is so.