How Do You Value Your Life?

“Godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.”​—1 Tim. 4:8, “Common Bible.”

A MOTORIST in Brooklyn, New York, starts to back his car into an empty parking space. Another car comes up from behind and quickly sneaks into the space. In anger the first motorist goes to the other car to reprimand the driver. Suddenly the second driver rips him open with a knife.

In a neighborhood grocery store two men get into a dispute. They go out into the street, where one beats the other to death with a baseball bat.

We can read of such incidents nearly every day. Many people in these stressful times are very “edgy,” so that a burst of anger or a wrong word can trigger a fight that costs a person his life. On a larger scale, riots and revolutions take a heavy toll. Life is indeed becoming cheap in the eyes of an increasing number of people.

How do you feel about life? Do you value it? If so, are there steps that you can take now to protect your life? Is there anything that will ensure protection, or at least, a greater measure of safety?

Yes, there is. But it requires some effort to know what to do, and constant vigilance in doing it. Control of your own temper is one of the foremost qualities for which to strive. “He that is quick to anger will commit foolishness,” says the true proverb. Keeping a calm tongue under aggravating circumstances can save your life and the life of others, as another proverb states: “The calmness of the tongue is a tree of life.” Self-control can prevent great grief and can sometimes mean the difference between life and death. “An answer, when mild, turns away rage, but a word causing pain makes anger to come up.” (Prov. 14:17; 15:1, 4; 16:32) But the ability to control one’s spirit is not easy to achieve.

How can you develop self-control so that you can maintain calmness under dangerous circumstances? By practicing control of your speech when with your family, when at work, or when things do not go just as you would like. Of course, you cannot entirely avoid getting angry. But if you follow the counsel: “Be wrathful, and yet do not sin; let the sun not set with you in a provoked state,” you will gain much better self-control, as well as happiness, both in family life and in relationships with others.​—Eph. 4:26.

However, regardless of what he does, a person living in a selfish world cannot protect his life under all circumstances. But there is One who values life much more highly than we do, for he knows what life under right conditions can mean. This One is the Creator of mankind. He promises to make this earth a place wherein death and mourning will be done away with. (Rev. 21:3, 4) And in the meantime, he provides the necessary wisdom for those who want life and peace. With this wisdom you can take the safest possible course even now, with “promise of the life now and that which is to come.”​—1 Tim. 4:8.

There are, then, two factors involved in working for protection in this modern world and particularly for the life in a cleansed earth that is to come. The first is your own effort, in turning away from the spirit of this world, where much of the thinking, language and practices is degrading and dangerous. The other involves prayer and your reading of the Bible, thus enabling you to get the help of God’s spirit to do as the Bible advises: “Be made new in the force actuating your mind.” It also says: “Strip off the old personality with its practices, and clothe yourselves with the new personality, which through accurate knowledge is being made new according to the image of the One who created it.”​—Eph. 4:23; Col. 3:9, 10.

You can do this if you make an effort to learn the principles in God’s Word and apply them. They are simple, straightforward, easy to understand. We are told: “Wisdom is for a protection the same as money is for a protection; but the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom itself preserves alive its owners.”​—Eccl. 7:12.

Wisdom from God can indeed be a help toward a longer life, as the apostle Peter wrote: “He that would love life and see good days, let him restrain his tongue from what is bad and his lips from speaking deception . . . For the eyes of Jehovah are upon the righteous ones, and his ears are toward their supplication.” (1 Pet. 3:10-12) Maintaining a close relationship with God is most important, for, primarily, it protects one spiritually, and often it literally delivers a person from calamity. How?

As an example, consider what Jesus said of his followers: “They are no part of the world, just as I am no part of the world.” (John 17:16) Those taking this wise position keep themselves free from the political factions and strife of this world. It often saves their lives. For instance, in Ireland Jehovah’s witnesses are not allied, with any of the religious or political factions striving for control. A Witness driving down a road there was stopped by three masked men. He told them that he was one of Jehovah’s witnesses, but they made him get out of his car. Usually this would mean that he was about to be shot. Nevertheless, when these men had assured themselves by searching his car that he was indeed a Witness, they told him to drive on, wishing him well.

Most important of all, at the finale of the conclusion of this corrupt system of things, God will reward those loving his right ways by preserving them alive, for life in a cleansed earth. This was assured in a vision given to the apostle John. Therein he saw “a great crowd, which no man was able to number, out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues.” When the question arose as to whom this crowd represented, the answer was given: “These are the ones that come out of the great tribulation [that marks the end of this system of things].” (Rev. 7:9, 14) Imagine seeing this life-endangering system pass off the scene and living to enjoy a life-giving system in which, under God’s supervision, people can truly make over their personalities to get along in peace and harmony! Surely if you value your life, that is a goal worth working for.

What Is the Point of Life?

“I SAW all the works that were done under the sun, and, look! everything was vanity and a striving after wind.” (Eccl. 1:14) These are not the words of a cynic. They come from an inspired Bible writer who realistically appraised life under imperfect conditions. An examination of what this writer, wise King Solomon, took under survey is helpful in determining what can keep our lives from being “vanity.”

There are people whose whole life centers around gaining knowledge. But is acquiring knowledge merely for the sake of knowledge what makes life meaningful? No, for often such knowledge is attended by the painful realization that there is so much wrong in this imperfect system that it cannot humanly be corrected. As King Solomon put it: “That which is made crooked cannot be made straight, and that which is wanting cannot possibly be counted.” (Eccl. 1:15) Then, too, circumstances may be against a person’s using his knowledge to the best advantage.

Further, one’s trying to enjoy life through the pursuit of material pleasures, as many do, is not the key to purposeful living. As to his efforts in this regard, Solomon wrote: “I built houses for myself; I planted vineyards for myself. I made gardens and parks for myself, and I planted in them fruit trees of all sorts. I made pools of water for myself, to irrigate with them the forest, springing up with trees. . . . I accumulated also silver and gold for myself, and property peculiar to kings and the jurisdictional districts. I made male singers and female singers for myself and the exquisite delights of the sons of mankind, a lady, even ladies. . . . And anything that my eyes asked for I did not keep away from them.”​—Eccl. 2:4-10.

Throughout the course of human history, few among mankind have had the resources that were available to King Solomon. However, though he seemingly had everything that he could possibly want, he found his pursuits frustrating, not satisfying. Why? For one thing, Solomon knew that his life could not be sustained indefinitely. Everything would be lost to him at death. “I, even I,” said Solomon, “hated all my hard work at which I was working hard under the sun, that I would leave behind for the man who would come to be after me. And who is there knowing whether he will prove to be wise or foolish? Yet he will take control over all my hard work at which I worked hard.”​—Eccl. 2:18, 19.

Similarly, one’s endeavoring to gain a position of prominence in the world can lead to bitter disappointment. All too often very capable people are the victims of circumstances that rob them of the opportunity to make good use of their ability. King Solomon found that: “Foolishness has been put in many high positions . . . I have seen servants on horses but princes walking on the earth just like servants.” (Eccl. 10:6, 7) “The swift do not have the race, nor the mighty ones the battle, nor do the wise also have the food, nor do the understanding ones also have the riches, nor do even those having knowledge have the favor; because time and unforeseen occurrence befall them all.”​—Eccl. 9:11.

Among imperfect humans, ability is not necessarily the determining factor in one’s getting a particular position. It has been said, ‘What counts is not what a person knows but whom he knows.’ So often this is why very capable men who may be of noble disposition find themselves having to put up with the foolishness of incapable persons who have administrative control. These princely men may not be granted any dignity but may even be represented as fools to others by those managing affairs.

Solomon was not exaggerating things when he labeled the works done in an imperfect system as “vanity.” The pursuit of material goals​—position and possessions and the like—​simply is not satisfying but is accompanied by a multitude of frustrations.

What, then, is the point of life? Is there not something that can bring satisfaction? Yes, it is the pursuit of that which can lead to one’s having a permanent and secure future. King Solomon showed just what that was after completing his survey of vain pursuits. He wrote: “The conclusion of the matter, everything having been heard, is: Fear the true God and keep his commandments. For this is the whole obligation of man.”​—Eccl. 12:13.

Yes, the key to a satisfying life is recognition of one’s spiritual need. One greater than Solomon, Jesus Christ, pointed this out in resisting Satan the Devil. He quoted from the Hebrew Scriptures and said: “Man must live, not on bread alone, but on every utterance coming forth through Jehovah’s mouth.” (Matt. 4:4) When a person has a wholesome regard for the Creator and heeds his commands, he is spared the frustrations that come from making mundane knowledge, position or material possessions the chief goal. Instead of setting his heart on something that is transitory, he is building a relationship with God that can last for all eternity. That relationship is not based on what a person has but on what he really is as a person. As the Bible says: “Man sees what appears to the eyes; but as for Jehovah, he sees what the heart is.”​—1 Sam. 16:7.

Not even death can destroy what fearers of the true God have gained. Why not? Because nothing can separate them from God’s love. “I am convinced,” wrote the Christian apostle Paul, “that neither death nor life nor angels nor governments nor things now here nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor any other creation will be able to separate us from God’s love that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom. 8:38, 39) Jehovah’s servants, even though physically dead, live from his standpoint, as he has made provision for them to be restored to life. For this reason, the inspired psalmist could say: “If I should spread out my couch in Sheol [gravedom], look! you would be there.”​—Ps. 139:8.

Surely, then, wise are those who recognize that life as an approved servant of God is what really makes life worth living. The whole point in life is to bring honor to the Life-Giver, Jehovah, by fearing him and keeping his commandments. Is this what you are striving to do?