What do you ‘value’ most in your life?
What would you be willing to sacrifice everything for?
Or is there anything worth that to you?
What you value is at the control center of your life. Pastor Wade mentioned the ‘Value of Finding the ONE’ in today’s service. In other words, Jesus Christ has to be first in everything we do, or what we treasure in this life will never make it. It was followed by a beautiful wedding ceremony where two people made a public declaration of their love to one another.
On this rainy Sunday in Maryland, I wonder for me personally, what could change my climate? When difficulty comes….when the newness wears off….when things sometimes cannot be seen clearly and the rain shows up, what could I do to change the climate I’m in?
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| (Baltimore Sky) |
I’ve found 4 simple things that have helped me greatly:
1. Choose your source.
Where our values come from determine the quality of them.
Oprah? (well, not anymore) ESPN? Your favorite magazine? CNN or Fox News?
Are any of these sources a good place to set our values by?
Statistics show that by the time you are sixty years old the average person will have watched television for 9½ solid years of life.
On the flip side – if you attend a place of worship just once a week for your entire life, that would equal only 4 months of spiritual teaching. What is contributing to our value system?
Romans 2:12 tells us to not become so well-adjusted to our culture that we fit into it without even thinking.
While scripture was written over 2,000 years ago – it is more relevant today than it has ever been. Your Value….is it coming from the WORD or the WORLD?
Where our values come from determine the quality of them.
Oprah? (well, not anymore) ESPN? Your favorite magazine? CNN or Fox News?
Are any of these sources a good place to set our values by?
Statistics show that by the time you are sixty years old the average person will have watched television for 9½ solid years of life.
On the flip side – if you attend a place of worship just once a week for your entire life, that would equal only 4 months of spiritual teaching. What is contributing to our value system?
Romans 2:12 tells us to not become so well-adjusted to our culture that we fit into it without even thinking.
While scripture was written over 2,000 years ago – it is more relevant today than it has ever been. Your Value….is it coming from the WORD or the WORLD?
2. Clarify what is important.
The interesting thing about our values is we are not born with them. We pick these things up along the journey. Have you ever just sat down with a piece of paper and written down what is important to you? We don’t do this often because it is usually a crisis that makes us think twice about what we really value. . . . .
Major illness….bankruptcy….loss of a loved one….a life altering decision….
These bring on the questions: “What am I here for? What is really important to me?”
The interesting thing about our values is we are not born with them. We pick these things up along the journey. Have you ever just sat down with a piece of paper and written down what is important to you? We don’t do this often because it is usually a crisis that makes us think twice about what we really value. . . . .
Major illness….bankruptcy….loss of a loved one….a life altering decision….
These bring on the questions: “What am I here for? What is really important to me?”
The thing is - if we don’t define what is vital to our success, then someone or something else will! Success is a journey – a journey of how we live out our values. Focus and define what is valued most.
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| (Horse Corral - Jarrettsville, MD) |
3. Change your lifestyle.
(I feel that I might have just lost half of you J)
Changing – Adjusting – handling time, money, and relationships differently.
Psalm 119:37 says, ‘Turn my eyes away from worthless things…..’
Changing – Adjusting – handling time, money, and relationships differently.
Psalm 119:37 says, ‘Turn my eyes away from worthless things…..’
The beginning place is to stop doing what is not important so that you have time to put your energy into what is. Where it gets rough though is when you put forth a genuine effort to do what is right. You’ll be in for the fight of your life. You will begin telling yourself ‘I can’t do this!’ And you will be right. You can’t. That’s why you need Christ to be #1.
4. Check into what you value daily.
Spare just five minutes daily and examine them. Is my life in harmony with what I SAY is important?
Spare just five minutes daily and examine them. Is my life in harmony with what I SAY is important?
I Timothy 4:16 says, “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save yourself and your hearers.”
If you were stranded on a deserted island trying to find your way out of the jungle, a map of Maryland would do you no good. What you would need is a compass to give you direction. No one person knows what the future holds – but Christ has given us a compass and that compass is our values. In order for it to work though, we have to be willing first to change.
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| (Rainbow over Farm....Forest Hill, MD) |
L. Tolstoy said once, “Everybody thinks of changing humanity, and nobody thinks of changing himself.” Let the work of changing you begin today.
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