What Do You Think is Important?

Yesterday morning I was watching the Today Show when they interviewed, Adam Grant recognized as Wharton’s top-rated professor for seven straight years.

Grant, is an organizational psychologist and a “leading expert on how we can find meaning and motivation and live more generous and creative lives.”

The interviewer was asking Grant about his perspective on goal setting in the New year. His response that the new year is a ideal time to set new goals because it provides a natural window of opportunity.

Then Grant offered this insight that made me stop and rewind to hear it again. “Who you want to be is going to be heavily shaped by what you think is important.”

Then he added, “If you need a foundation to make decisions, then what you think is important is a good place to start.”

Grant then suggested that it’s possible to achieve a goal then suddenly realize that’s not really what you wanted after all that you actually missed out on something much more important.

The professor’s observation reminded me of a observation that Zig Ziglar used to make in his speeches. “People may spend their whole lives climbing the ladder of success only to find, once they reach the top, that the ladder is leaning against the wrong wall.”

These thoughts remind us of the importance of value-based dreams, goals and decision making. It calls for us to ask the question, What is really important in life? What gives my life meaning? What is the basis on which I make decisions?

Jesus came from heaven to earth, not only to show us the way to God (Jn. 14:6), to be our Savior (Lk. 19:10 but also to show us how to live a life of significance and meaning. He said, I have come that they may have life–life in all its fullness” (Jn. 10:10).

Rick Warren, author of the the Purpose Driven Life, says there are three great questions in life.

The question of existence:
Why am I alive?

The question of significance:
Does my life matter?

The question of purpose:
What on earth am I here for?

While Warren’s book may provide you some direction, spark your motivation, and inspire you, it really only leads you back to “the book.” The Bible. The apostle Peter affirmed “His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

Thus our goal setting and resolutions ought to be value based in the principles and precepts of God’s Word. Here’s 5 questions to ask about what is important to you, as you set goals and make decisions.

1. Do my values give glory and honor to God? (1 Pet. 2:11-12)

2. Do my values bless and benefit the lives of other people? (Matt. 7:12; Matt 22:3-40).

3. Do my values deal with sin and make moral and ethical choices honestly? (I Jn, 5:7; 3:4; Jas 4:17; Rom.14:23).

4. Do my values provide my life with meaning and purpose? (Eph. 1:)

5. Do my values transcend this life? (I Tim. 4:8).

How you answer these questions will determine your life’s goals and it’s direction. However, be advised that it’s possible to give the correct answers, yet in reality make our decisions and set our priorities very differently than what we claim to believe.

Everybody is on some ladder. What ladder are you on? And is it the most important ladder?

–Ken Weliever, The Preacherman