Daily Dose 15: Discovering Values

How, then, does a Christian set about to discover his personal values?  For this, we need another question:

What Scriptural ambitions should a Christian have?

When we turn to Scripture and seek from it the responsibilities we are to fulfill, expectations we are to meet, commands we are to obey, ambitions and cautions we ought to possess, we search on solid ground.  Scripture is big enough to address any notion we might have, to assess any desire we are fond of, and to challenge any prejudice we hold. It is, as needed, encouraging, consoling, pointed, and confrontational.

Value Verses

Many familiar Scripture texts lend themselves to being “value verses.”  They set a long-term life challenge that draws a believer out of their failures and weakness, and inspire a heavenly ambition inside an earthly human. Verses like, “Set your affection on things above…Seek ye first the kingdom of God…Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind…For this is the will of God, that ye possess your vessel in sanctification and honor…Be ye holy, saith the Lord…,” can influence many more practical decisions of life. But we should not just list such verses and call them “our values.”

Values will reflect our deepest beliefs about life, after we have meditated on and grappled with such verses. Values acknowledge the Christian view that there are things one ought to do.   They are generally lofty, worthy, noble ambitions. We are sometimes afraid to articulate them, because once articulated, they hang expectantly over our lives, waiting to see if we are making any genuine effort to embed them in our daily lives. This is good when we are serious about living a life yielded to the Savior, and bad when we want to deceive ourselves about how righteous we are, or when we want to appear pious without any of the work to be genuinely godly.

Our values should, as succinctly as possible, sum up the unswerving convictions and deeply held beliefs which set the course for our lives.

Where Values Lead

Though values are not usually precise in the exact way they would or could be fulfilled, well-constructed values do raise the question, “How can I do that?” from which tumbles an avalanche of priorities to work toward their fruition.

Assessing Values: Their Source and Their Influence

This raises another thinking and jotting project. What would you say are your values? Have you ever faced such private desires with yourself before? Do they link directly to something from Scripture? From a vivid life experience that has left an indelible memory or resolve? Are they positive or negative influences in your life? Do they have any daily impact on the way you live? Are they truly yours—or are they expectations or pressures from other people you feel obligated to shoulder? Lots of questions, lots of thinking.