Yeartext for 1983

“Clothe yourselves with love . . . a perfect bond of union.”​—Col. 3:14.

Jesus told his followers: “By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love among yourselves.” (John 13:35) Today, however, the world is full of those who are “lovers of themselves.” (2 Tim. 3:1, 2) And Jesus foretold an ‘increase of lawlessness,’ causing the ‘love of the greater number to cool off.’ (Matt. 24:12) What a challenge this loveless spirit of the world presents to the followers of Jesus Christ!

The issue today facing all those who would be disciples of Jesus is: Will you continue to demonstrate unselfish love toward fellow Christians, resisting the loveless tendencies of this world, and so work together in unity to finish the work of preaching and disciple making as commanded by Jesus?​—Matt. 24:14; 28:19, 20.

The only way to meet this pressing challenge is to follow Paul’s advice in his letter to the Colossians to ‘strip off the old personality with its practices, and clothe ourselves with the new personality.’ How do we start doing this? Paul explains that we must get an accurate knowledge of the truth of God’s Word. Therein we learn of such Christlike qualities as compassion, kindness, lowliness of mind, mildness and long-suffering. We learn the need for putting up with our brothers and freely forgiving them for their imperfections and weaknesses of the flesh. Practicing all these things will help us to acquire new personality traits. Ah, but above all these things, we must ‘clothe ourselves with  love, for it is a perfect bond of union.’​—Col. 3:9, 10, 12-14.

We should ask ourselves: How well is this spiritual clothing fitting me? How far have I gone in putting on this new personality? These are questions that the yeartext for 1983 should make us think about as we enter another year with its many privileges of sacred service to our loving God Jehovah.

Let us all keep the above words of Paul in mind as we make daily use of this 1983 Yearbook. We should allow its uplifting daily texts and appropriate comments help us in our daily life to fit into the Bible’s “pattern of healthful words.” (2 Tim. 1:13) Doing this, we shall be brought into a closer, more loving unity with our brothers earth wide, proving we are Christ’s disciples and that ‘love is a perfect bond of union.’