"To ask the right question is harder than to answer it." - Georg Cantor

Life can appear to be full of competing priorities and unrelated decisions. When we see life this way, circumstances and other people’s agendas run our lives. However, when we know the purpose of life, our ability to make decisions — big and small — becomes much simpler.

A little over fifteen years ago, I heard executive mentor and writer, Bobb Biehl, talk about the importance of good questions. Bobb told us he was a life-long collector of questions. He described how good questions can produce better outcomes and cut through the clutter of competing priorities at the same time.

Good questions are applicable to everything we face in life. Good questions are helpful for leaders. Every good question helps us take a part of our life and order it to our larger purpose. Good questions help us see that our life is not a bunch of unrelated buckets. The best questions point us to the one thing that matters.  

Here are some questions for life: 

• Why am I on the earth? What can I do to make the most significant difference in my lifetime? - Bobb Biehl 
• What difference will this decision make, 5-10-50-100 years from now? -  Bobb Biehl
• What decision would we make if money was not a factor? - Bobb Biehl‍
• What is our business, and what should it be? - Peter Drucker‍
• What would happen if this were not done at all? - Peter Drucker
• Where should we look for answers to the big questions of life? And where shouldn’t we look for answers?  - Tim Keller
• What is God's goal in the history of mankind from its beginning at creation to its climax in the new heavens and new earth, and what should our response to this goal be? - John Piper
• When all of this is over, what story do I want to tell? - Andy Stanley
  

The Bible was written so we can know the answer to everything we need for life. It tells us all the important answers to the who, what, when, where, why, and how. It tells us who made the earth, who made us, what God intends for us to do, where and when we should do it, and why our lives matter. It is a love story written so that we would believe. Consider a few of these significant truths as you ponder answers to the questions that matter for your life, leadership, and work. 

Who and How

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind…The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.- John 1:1-4 & 14 

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. - Colossians 1:15-20

What, When, And Where 

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life ? “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you---you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” - Matthew 6:19-33

Why 

For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all. Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” “Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?” For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen. - Romans 11:32-36

He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true .” - Revelation 21:5