Values: Boundary Markers for Living - Part 3

The idea that God is interested in you may be difficult to believe and accept. He not only has an interest in his creation, but he pursues you for his purpose so your days on the earth will be worthwhile. What does he ask in return? To love him with all your heart, soul and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.

This command is not easy because it requires identifying and analyzing your values. Someone told me her priorities were her career first, then family, her social life, and finally God. Then she was diagnosed with a life-threatening disease. Confined to convalescence for an extended time, she was forced to rethink her purpose and goals for her life.

Identifying and analyzing your values may result in life-changing decisions. That God is interested in you and will pursue you is validated by Jesus' words, "I have come that you might have life and have it abundantly." To accept that God is interested in you may require rearranging your values to include his love and purpose for you.  

Must I Really Love THAT Person? - Part 3

When my granddaughter was four, she asked if we could take a walk around the neighborhood. About halfway around the block she asked, "Why is the sidewalk different? It's crumbling and I can see little shells in it." Her question caused me to question the values of the company who sold an inferior product.

The Roman Empire was among the first to use concrete for their structures, and some of those structures are still standing twenty centuries later. What gives personal values the sustaining power to withstand the trials and storms of life? Values must be firmly grounded in a clear sense of what is right and wrong.

God has given us Christ Jesus, the Holy Spirit and his word to guide our walk through this world. The presence of God in our lives strengthens our values by telling us to strive for righteousness, godliness, faith, love and the strength to endure. Whenever anything that is not pure, honest and true gets mixed into our lives, it must be identified and cleaned out. With God’s help, you can do it.