You Are Your Values

You are what you Value!

February 9, 2020

I’ve never built a home, and if I was to build a home, I would hope I wouldn’t hire some of my favorite carpenters. This was one of their attempts to build a home for their wives . . .

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Hopefully I wouldn’t be quite so bad. If you’re going to build a house, or any type of structure, you need to start with something that is absolutely vital. You must start with a foundation. And your foundation must be right. You can’t be off or your structure will be off as well.

Well, we’ve been building up towards having a better understanding of our purpose in life. Last we started looking at the fact that God has a plan and a purpose for your life. And as I was thinking about moving into that first aspect of our purpose, I realized, I needed to slow down and take my time so that we would have a solid foundation, so we could better understand who we are called to be in Christ.

Today I want to talk about our values. Because as I was thinking about this message, I realized that we live our lives according to what we value. And one of the big stressors in life occurs when we aren’t living according to our values.

So, how can we do that? I kind of want to lay down the foundation as we look at values and how we can stay true to those values. We need to live lives in which our values and our actions are congruent.

I don’t think we realize how much our values play into the decisions we make. In many respects, our values control everything we do. Every time we make a decision, we're filtering that decision subconsciously or unconsciously through our values grid. If your values are right it will lead to growth and maturity. If your values are wrong, you’ll eventually crash and burn.

Your values also effects your salvation. Jesus said it’s possible to be outwardly successful - financially, socially and every other way - and yet, be spiritually bankrupt. In Matthew 15, Jesus said –

25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? - Matthew 15:25-26

Do you hear what Jesus was saying? What is it really going to get you if you gain all the material goods, all the social glamour, all the prestige, if it means you don’t know Jesus? It’s not going to be a good ending. You are what you value. And for the rest of our time, I want to try to start to lay a foundation for our values, so that our values and our faith and our actions are all in agreement.

Our first decision is a decision about where we’re going to get our values from?

The source of your values will determine the quality of your values. For instance, would you consider the National Enquirer a good source for values? How about TV talk shows? The source determines how valuable your priorities are.

In reality, we get our values from a lot of places. We pick them up from our parents, friends, from books and magazines, from music, movies, television programs, from social media . . . and more.

Think about this . . . Americans spend an average of 2'20" per day on social media. Add to that adults watch between 4 and 6 hours per day of television. That may mean 1/4 to 1/3 of your day is on social media and television. Studies indicate we will spend 8 years of our lives watching television and 6 years on social media.

If you attended church to worship God for one hour per week for 50 weeks per year, you would spend 4 months of your life worshiping God.

Four months compared to over 10 years . . . so you tell me where we are getting our values from?

In 1 John 2:15-16, the apostle John wrote --

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

16 For all that is in the world — the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of possessions — is not from the Father but is from the world. - 1 John 2:15-16

Don’t tell me the Bible is outdated! This applied 2000 years ago, and seems to be more relevant today! In a strange way, the world's values haven’t changed. We tend to want what the world is throwing out at us.