not allowing relatives to influence him wrongly. On one occasion his relatives exclaimed: “He has gone out of his mind.” (Mark 3:21) And despite the marvelous works Jesus was doing, ‘his brothers were not exercising faith in him.’ (John 7:5) But the faithlessness of such relatives did not cause Jesus to quit. He kept right on doing God’s work. What was the result? After Jesus’ death and resurrection, his brothers were evidently in the group of some 120 disciples who received the holy spirit on the day of Pentecost in 33 C.E. (Acts 1:14; 2:1-4) Because Jesus put the emphasis on spiritual, not fleshly, relationships, his brothers finally gained a fine spiritual relationship with Jehovah God.

Relatives and friends are not the only ones who could cause one to fail in giving God exclusive devotion. Actually, anyone or anything taking on undue importance in our lives can lead to our not being exclusively devoted to God. For example, the Bible refers to covetousness as “idolatry.” (Col. 3:5) This is so because the object of a person’s craving diverts affection away from God and in this way becomes an idol. Take the case of the person wishing to gain prominence in the world. His time and energies are fully taken up in the pursuit of that goal. He gives no thought as to what might be God’s will in the matter. Obviously he is not exclusively devoted to God. Another interest has become his chief concern​—the object of his love.

Since Jehovah God rightly requires exclusive devotion, we must be on guard that nothing takes on undue importance in our lives, crowding out affection for him. Nothing this world has to offer should be allowed to becloud our vision of the rightness of remaining exclusively devoted to Jehovah. We should heed the inspired admonition: “Do not be loving either the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him; because everything in the world​—the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the showy display of one’s means of life—​does not originate with the Father, but originates with the world. Furthermore, the world is passing away and so is its desire, but he that does the will of God remains forever.” (1 John 2:15-17) Yes, if our chief concern is to give Jehovah God the exclusive devotion he merits, we can rest assured of his favoring us with everlasting life.

Questions From Readers

● If a Christian unilaterally breaks his (or her) engagement to marry, what effect would this have on such a one’s being used in an exemplary way in the congregation?

Both the making and the breaking of an engagement to marry are serious steps, not to be taken lightly. Both, however, are basically private matters. There is no need for congregational elders to inquire into such matters unless a complaint is lodged with them by one of the parties or there is evidence that a number in the congregation are disturbed, with corresponding lack of respect for the one thus breaking the engagement. In some cases it may be that the ones who are disturbed need to have a clearer understanding of the principles involved.