YOUR MOST IMPORTANT CHOICE

3. What is the most important choice you can make in life, and when can you make it?

³ Youth is a time for making important choices. But one choice is more important than all others​—your decision to serve Jehovah. When is the best time to make that choice? Jehovah says: “Remember . . . your Grand Creator in the days of your youth.” (Eccl. 12:1) The only acceptable way to “remember” Jehovah is to serve him fully. (Deut. 10:12) Your decision to serve God with all your heart is the most important choice you will ever make. It will shape your entire future.​—Ps. 71:5.

4. Besides choosing to serve Jehovah, what other key choices in life will affect how you serve God?

⁴ Of course, your choice to serve Jehovah is not the only choice that affects your future. For example, you may also wonder about whether you will marry, whom you might marry, and how you will earn a living. These are vital decisions, but you are wise to choose first whether you want to serve Jehovah as fully as possible. (Deut. 30:19, 20) Why? Because the choices are interrelated. What you decide about marriage and employment will affect how you serve God. (Compare Luke 14:16-20.) Conversely, your desire to serve God will affect your choices about marriage and employment. So decide on matters of primary importance first.​—Phil. 1:10.

11. Why did Baruch lose his joy, and what counsel did Jehovah give him?

¹¹ Our greatest happiness comes from serving Jehovah. (Prov. 16:20) Jeremiah’s secretary, Baruch, apparently forgot that. At one point in time, he was no longer enjoying Jehovah’s service. Jehovah told him: “You are seeking great things for yourself. Stop seeking such things. For I am about to bring a calamity on all flesh, . . . and wherever you may go, I will grant you your life as a spoil.” (Jer. 45:3, 5) What do you think? What would have made Baruch happy​—seeking great things or surviving Jerusalem’s destruction as a faithful servant of God?​—Jas. 1:12.