What Do You Value?

Would you lie to get a job?  Is your worth attached to what you achieve or how much education you have?  Is the president of the company as important as the custodian?  Is young and beautiful as valuable as old and unattractive?

These questions refer to our values which determine who we are and what we do.  Values puts a price tag on an item's usefulness, importance or worth.  Behavior is what we do; values are why we do what we do.

What we value is what we love.  "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.  Love your neighbor as yourself," Matthew 22:37.  Christians are told that God is valued as number 1; neighbors and you rank a close second.  "The love of money is the root of all evil," 1 Timothy 6:10.  Money is not the problem; it is the value we attach to money that is the difficulty.

Our generation puts a high value on happiness, pleasure, good looks, and wealth.  Many see these four as having such high value that they will bend their morals to attain them.  But are those God's values?  Since God is like the owner of a department store - placing the price tags on various items which describes their worth, what does He really value?  God values marriage, family, worship, salvation, forgiveness, love, truth, justice, relationships.

Some people have been known to lose their family, career, peace, and soul to get crack, heroin, or alcohol.  But, Jesus said, "What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul or what will a person give in exchange for his soul?"  That shows His values.

Every word we utter and every decision we make expresses our values - what we view as important and of worth.  Choices about God, worship, friends, a good job, a nice house, a luxury vacation, volunteer mission work, solitude, prayer, meditation on God's Word make a statement about what receives the highest worth in our eyes. 

Do your decisions/actions properly describe what you say you value most?  If not, what needs to change in your life to properly reflect your values - and God's?

                                                                                                         Bob