Human beings are limited. In particular, they are limited in how much they can work. Hence, it is God’s ordination that human beings have relaxation and rest. This also applies to young people and their studies. We should help young people understand that spending a great amount of time to study does not necessarily increase one’s learning. Whether a person learns depends on whether he studies diligently. When a young person makes a schedule of his activities, he must include some time for relaxation. Often those who regularly attend the meetings succeed in their studies because the meetings become their relaxation. In every school curriculum there is time allotted for physical education, which is a kind of relaxation. By including relaxation in his schedule, a student will be able to study effectively.
A school cannot confine its students to a classroom, requiring them to study twenty-four hours a day. The young people must understand that spending a large amount of time studying does not necessarily mean that they will study effectively. If the students make proper use of the meeting time, by considering it as a time of enjoyment and relaxation, their schoolwork will not be negatively affected. There have been many brothers and sisters who loved the Lord and who were also diligent students. They were good students, and they did not let their studies affect their attending the meetings. We must help the young saints in this matter so that they do not think that in order to be good students they must spend all their time studying. Studying until four or five o’clock in the morning will not make them good students. Such a schedule would make them useless the next day because, as human beings, our energy is limited. Human beings must work during the day and sleep at night, and we must have appropriate relaxation.
A student must be focused when he studies. Some students are capable, and a few are gifted, but all students must learn to focus. They should not depend on cramming in order to succeed. We should help the young people understand that their whole being should be focused on their studies. Then at an appropriate time, they should sleep and have some physical exercise and some enjoyment. Our enjoyment should not be going to movies but attending meetings. The meetings should be the enjoyment and relaxation of a Christian. Our young people will be greatly benefited if we can help them in this way to change their concept.
Some brothers say that the work must focus on a “nucleus” of committed saints. However, a co-worker who truly knows how to work will work in a way to enliven every saint. We must spend less time holding meetings to make decisions. In particular, the time for the elders’ meeting should be reduced, and it should be held less frequently. The elders should spend more time working with the saints. Every elder should visit the saints. Even if we have different ways to visit the saints, as long as it is living, it is good. There is no need to insist on uniformity.
It is important that we work until a person is enlivened. We should even let the junior high students hold their own meetings. A junior high brother may have many meetings in his school. Perhaps a young person would gather five or six friends and have a meeting and then gather five or six more for another meeting. Eventually, there may be four to five meetings in his junior high school so that many are led to salvation. This will increase his interest and burden to serve. There should be no set pattern for these meetings.
Furthermore, we should not be deterred by difficulties. In Matthew 25:24 the Lord is portrayed as a hard man, reaping where he did not sow, and gathering where he did not winnow. To reap where one did not sow indicates that the environment is not easy. There is no work that is without difficulty. However, we do not fear the difficult environment because the more difficult the environment, the more effective the work. Do not be subdued by the environment or look at difficulties in the environment. No matter how high a mountain is, it will be leveled. If a surface needs to be elevated, it will be filled in, and if a road needs to be made straight, it will be straightened. In short, nothing is too difficult. Every difficult situation can be conquered. We need such a spirit for the work. Especially those who are involved with the young people’s work need such a spirit, because the young ones can be very active.
During our first few years in the United States, we noticed that many American families brought their whole family, young and old, to the meetings. The families would all sit together in the meetings. The Americans considered this to be pious. The American mothers were strict disciplinarians and taught their children to be obedient. Hence, even though many children were present, there was little noise in the meeting. Later we found out that two hours was too long for the children to sit in a meeting. This made them resentful when they became older. As a result, we let the adults meet while some young people took care of the children. In other words, a children’s meeting was held concurrently with the meeting for the adults. When the parents came for a meeting, they would hand their children over to the serving ones. Thus, a child was in the hands of serving ones until he turned twelve years old. When he started junior high school, he was encouraged to attend the meeting for the adults.
According to this example, we should spend time to study our situation and find a proper way to do the work. A difficult environment does not mean that there is no way to work. It may not be bad to focus on a “nucleus,” but it is not appropriate to depend on this. If we continually have elders’ meetings and nucleus meetings but are unable to enliven all the saints, we will achieve nothing. Therefore, we must put our time and energy into the service. It is sufficient to have a brief meeting when a need arises. We must try our best to put our time and energy into the work, not into meetings related to the work.