What Is Most Important in Your Life?

HE WAS reputed to be the richest man in the world. His personal fortune ran into billions of dollars. He was admired by many as having reached the pinnacle of success. Yet two years before he died, J. Paul Getty said: “Money doesn’t necessarily have any connection with happiness. Maybe with unhappiness.”

In the pursuit of what many consider important in life, the famous oil magnate certainly had succeeded to an outstanding degree. But did he sound like a man who had found happiness through what he had worked so hard to acquire? Or did he sound more like one who had come to realize finally that what he had worked so hard for was not that important after all?

Ideal and Reality

What do you consider most important in your life? Some people may say that freedom is what they treasure the most. Others may say that success means the most in their lives. Still others put personal fulfillment ahead of everything else.

Though they do not want to admit it, many people’s life pattern and actions betray that money and pleasure are really the most important things in their lives. They are so determined to get rich or are so bent on ‘having a good time,’ that they do not mind neglecting their family, their health, and their spiritual well-being in doing so. And interestingly, the Bible foretold that in “the last days” people would become “lovers of themselves, lovers of money” and “lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God.”​—2 Timothy 3:1, 2, 4.

Something More Important

Jesus Christ, the founder of Christianity, posed a thought-provoking question. “Does a person gain anything if he wins the whole world but loses his life?” he asked. (Mark 8:36, Today’s English Version) Think about that. What would a person be able to do without life? Nothing!​—Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10.

You may still be young and so feel that you have plenty of time to do all the things you want to do. But do you really? Wars, crime, diseases, and accidents have struck down countless able-bodied men and women​—suddenly and unexpectedly. What happened to all their plans and goals?

You may have a family or may be along in years. So you may feel that you must put all your time and effort into building a secure future for yourself and your loved ones before you can think about anything else. But what would you consider to be secure? As you know, inflation, recession, and unemployment have eaten up the life savings of many, leaving them destitute and homeless. Besides, with conditions around the world so unstable, what guarantee is there that the things you worked hard for will not be eliminated by some unexpected turn of events?

Doubtless you see, therefore, the importance of examining your personal goals. So, what do you really consider most important in your life?