The Significance Of Our Life

In the mid-1970s, Ed Roberts built the world’s first commercially successful personal computer (PC). He hired Bill Gates and Paul Allen to write software for him. Roberts sold his computer business in 1977 and bought a farm. Seven years later, at the age of 41, he entered medical school. Today Bill Gates is the Chairman of the largest software company in the world and also guides the world's richest philanthropy, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Ed Roberts is a physician in a small Georgia town.

Roberts says, “The implication is that the PC is the most important thing I’ve ever done, and I don’t think that’s true. Every day I deal with things that are equally if not more important here with my patients.”

How can we evaluate the significance of our lives? The Bible tells us that our significance cannot be measured by wealth and fame (Matthew 16:26; Luke 12:15; cf. Psalm 49:6-9).

As we look at the apostle Paul’s turbulent life, it seems noteworthy that he approached the end with a peaceful sense of successful completion.

He wrote: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7).

Paul looked confidently not to the world but to “the Lord, the righteous Judge” for approval and reward (2 Timothy 4:8).

How do we measure the significance of our life? Only God can tell us what matters most (Ecclesiastes 12:13; cf. 1 John 3:22-24 AMP).

—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets