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?

Happiness Through a Precious Relationship

“A LIVE dog is better off than a dead lion.” (Ecclesiastes 9:4) In those few words, King Solomon of old stated the fundamental truth that life is more important than any material possessions or any ambitious goals we may hope to achieve. Without life, we cannot benefit from any of these things. Yes, life is essential in our pursuit of happiness.

Something “Better Than Life”

As precious as life is, however, there is something that is even better. ‘Is that possible?’ you might wonder. ‘What could be more precious than life itself?’

King David of ancient Israel supplied us with the answer. Addressing the Creator, Jehovah God, he said with deep appreciation: “Because your loving-kindness is better than life, my own lips will commend you.” (Psalm 63:3) David’s heartfelt words show that to be the recipient of God’s loving-kindness, which is based on having a fine relationship with him, is even more precious than life itself. Why is this so?

What Makes Life Possible

Suppose you were given a gift, something that you really liked. Of course you would be very happy to receive the gift and perhaps get a great deal of enjoyment from using it. But you would be ungrateful, indeed, if your thoughts did not go beyond the gift to the giver. Was it not the personal relationship between you and the giver that prompted the gift? If that relationship did not exist, there would have been no gift and no enjoyment of it.

The same is true with life. Precious as it is, we must bear in mind where our life came from and how it has been sustained. Certainly we did not create it ourselves, nor can we sustain it independent of all the marvelous provisions Jehovah has made on earth. (Psalm 100:3; Acts 14:17) The very fact that we have life, and undoubtedly we are enjoying it in some measure, is an expression of loving-kindness on the part of the Grand Creator, Jehovah God. Can we not see why King David wholeheartedly felt that God’s “loving-kindness is better than life”?

There is another reason why having an approved relationship with the Creator is more important than having life itself​—our future depends on it. Let us see how this is so.