What Do You Value?

Verses:

Philippians 3:8: Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.

Matthew 10:37: Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

1 Peter 1:6-7: In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Thoughts:

When an author sets out to write a good story, he creates strong characters by defining clearly what his characters value above all else. This value undergirds all of the character’s words and actions.

So let’s take a look at ourselves. Ultimately, what we value drives everything about our lives: Our thoughts, our actions, our words. Our values define us.

So, what do you value? And what does that say about you? Be honest. Don’t settle for the words that bubble to the surface that you allow to stay because you don’t want to dive deeper.

What would you say are the top five things you value? Is it a status that you have–father, sister, doctor, teacher? Did you mention health? Or wealth? How about “Child of the Almighty God”? Do you have five yet?

Now I want you to think through why you value them. Is it because it gives you a leg up in life? Is it because it makes you comfortable? Do you value it because of its eternal value? Is it first glorifying to God? Do you value it because it brings you personal pleasure?

I know I have wrongly valued transient things of this world: fitness, perfection, school grades, and certain relationships. Although these can all be good things in themselves, the problem is not with the thing but with where I rank it on the scale of importance.

In our fallen state, our hearts by nature desire evil. 

Isaiah 5:20 says, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” We naturally call evil good and good evil because our hearts are not made new by God.

We do this because we don’t want to admit to ourselves that what we are doing is truly wrong. And for some people, their hearts are so hardened and unfeeling to their conscience that they truly think evil is good.

By God’s grace, the christian has been given a new heart with new passions. He has enabled us to love good. 

But in this life, no one is perfect. In fact, each of us are very far from perfect. We have to be willing to see the wrong values, to see those dead twigs, so that we can continually prune ourselves by God's grace into something that is lovely. 

Summary: What do you value, and what does this say about you as a person?If you were an objective third party looking at yourself, what would you think of, well, you? If we are not discerning, we can be driven by values that are not life giving and God glorifying. Humble yourself daily, being honest with yourself about your motivations, and by the grace of the Holy Spirit work out your salvation with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12).

Ask Yourself: What are your top values? What do they say about you? Do you need to work toward changing any of them?

#36

22 May 2026