But Jesus said to him, "Who said that I should be your judge or decide how to divide your father's things between you two?" Then Jesus said to them, "Be careful and guard against all kinds of selfishness. A person does not get life from the many things he owns." Then Jesus used this story: "There was a rich man that had some land. His land grew a very good crop of food. The rich man thought to himself, 'What will I do? I have no place to keep all my crops.' Then the rich man said, 'I know what I will do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger barns! I will put all my wheat and good things together in my new barns. Then I can say to myself, I have many good things stored. I have saved enough for many years. Rest, eat, drink, and enjoy life!' But God said to that man, 'Foolish man! Tonight you will die. So what about the things you prepared for yourself? Who will get those things now?' This is how it will be for the person that saves things only for himself. To God that person is not rich."
Solomon, the wise king of Israel, after discussing how people live and ought to live, concludes the book of Ecclesiastes by stating what is truly of more value in life than wealth, pleasure, power, or knowledge:Now, what should we learn from all the things that are written in this book? The most important thing a person can do is to respect God and obey his commands. Why? Because God knows about all the things people do---even the secret things. He knows about all the good things and all the bad things. He will judge everything people do. - - - Ecclesiastes 12:13-14
In our life here on earth we should be primarily concerned with our relationship to God. We ought to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind; and love other people the same as we love ourselves. (See Matthew 22:34-40) Though our lives should be lived to please God, it is a sad fact that none of us has perfectly obeyed God's commandments. Our relationship with God has been ruined by sin (Romans 3:10-12,23). Sin includes not only doing wrong things, but also neglecting to do the good we ought to do(Matthew 23:23, I John 3:4). Not only do men sin by their outward actions, but also by the motives and attitudes of their hearts (Matthew 5:21-32; Matthew 15:7-9; Matthew 15:10-20).How can we be saved and know that God accepts us and forgives us of our sins? How can we have a right relationship with God as His children? It is certain that none of us deserve to be saved because we have not lived perfectly before God. We cannot be justified before God on the merit alone of how well we have kept God's commandments. If we are to be saved, it must be on the basis of God's grace (Ephesians 2:8-10; Romans 3:19-31). God's grace is shown in His sending His only-begotten Son to die for our sins (John 3:16; Titus 3:4-7; I John 4:9-10).* Because Jesus Christ was punished for our sins (Isaiah 53:4-6; II Corinthians 5:21; I Peter 2:24-25), we can be justified before God through faith of Jesus Christ (Romans 3:22-28).
If we truly put our trust in Jesus Christ, we will yield our lives to His Will (see Luke 9:23-27; Romans 6:13-19; Hebrews 1:1-2). A vital faith in God involves more than simply believing facts about God or Jesus (James 2:14-26). Faith in God involves trusting that God will do for us what He has promised and also involves us doing what God has told us to do in order to receive His blessings (see Romans 4:20-25). Faith in Jesus Christ is expressed by a person when he or she repents of the sin in his or her life, confesses belief in Jesus, and is immersed(baptized) for the forgiveness of sins (see Romans 6:1-7; Romans 10:9-17; Galatians 3:26-27; Acts 2:38; Colossians 2:11-13; I Peter 3:20-22). Because of Jesus' sinless life, his death on the cross for us, and his resurrection from the dead, we can be saved and have a new relationship to God when we put our trust in God and are baptized into Jesus Christ (I Corinthians 15:1-28; II Corinthians 5:17; I John 3:1-4). We are then to grow in Christ and become more and more the kind of people God would have us to be (I Peter 2:1-3).
*NOTE: see also John 1:1-5,14.