Refine Search

How Are You Planning for the Future?

“WE HAD better take the future seriously because we are going to spend the rest of our lives there!” Probably you agree with that statement. Most of us see the wisdom of making some preparation for the future.

In some communities, married couples try to raise large families so that they will have someone to look after them in their old age. Young people may go to college to prepare themselves for good jobs. Adults may invest their savings in an effort to ensure a reasonably secure old age. And many who view money as the best guarantee for the future spend much of their time and energy, even health, in an effort to get rich.

How Certain Is It?

These ways of preparing for the future are what might be called conventional wisdom, and there is a certain practicalness about them. The trouble is that they do not always work out well. Poor parents may have many children, only to see them die of disease or malnutrition. Or many grown children refuse to care for their parents. College graduates sometimes find themselves out of work or unhappy. Even very rich men and women find out how true these words of Jesus Christ are: “Even when a person has an abundance his life does not result from the things he possesses.”​—Luke 12:15.

Besides, many view with concern the mounting pollution, the growth of nuclear arsenals, the increasing instability in international relations and the wobbly economic situation, as well as the collapsing morality. They have an uneasy feeling that the future they so carefully prepare for will be frustrated by events beyond their control. Psychiatrist Karl Menninger voiced the feelings of many when he said: “The world is in a nervous, unsettled state in which terrible things can happen.”

Moreover, people often frustrate their own plans for the future. Despite mounting evidence regarding the dangers of drug abuse, more and more people take drugs. Research has proved that smoking can lead to cancer and other life-threatening diseases. Yet many keep right on smoking. Some die in traffic accidents that happen because they or someone else drove while under the influence of alcohol. But people still drink and drive. Immorality often results in sexually transmitted diseases, but that does not stop many from being immoral.

Something Is Missing

The fact is that something is missing in the way most people plan for the future. Conventional wisdom does not take into account all the facts and does not satisfy all man’s needs. In view of this, it may interest you to know that the Bible speaks of two kinds of wisdom​—“the wisdom of the world” and “the wisdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:20, 21) Although preparing for the future in the customary ways has a certain value in the short run, following conventional wisdom is really almost valueless in preparing for a long-term future.

Jesus said: “Wisdom is proved righteous by its works.” (Matthew 11:19) Why not spend a few minutes, then, considering “the wisdom of God” and see how it can affect your outlook as you plan for the future?