Value

"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:21 NKJ)

The 17th century pastor, Richard Baxter said, “The things that we value do deeply affect us, and some motions will be in the heart according to our estimation of them.” What kindergarten our children attend. Whether our favorite team has a national championship or not. Can we get a TV channel or not?

Values. Those things and issues which add meaning and worth to our lives. We are affected by them at the deepest level of emotion. At the heart level, we invest our passions into them.

I think they involve more than a football game or TV show. I sometimes wonder how much we value the Gospel of Christ. Have our lives truly been affected by it? Has our passion for it truly affected our families and communities?

As a pastor and writer, I sometimes feel like an "armchair quarterback" and strive to resist such an attitude. The armchair quarterback sits in a comfortable recliner sipping his/her favorite beverage, critiquing the coaching staff and the players. One wonders how this "expert" would have reacted in the game on the field.

It's the old speck-versus-plank issue. Jesus asked us, "why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?" (Matthew 7:3 NKJ). Then he tells us the proper action, "First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye" (v. 5).

The values of our society are clearly seen by the priority the Church places on the Gospel of Jesus Christ and his commission to make disciples of all nations. Before proceeding to the ends of the earth with a benign, powerless missions program, we must be changed by the message ourselves. Before judging others to be apathetic about the Gospel of God, we must consider and deal with our own apathy. Hence, the Lord's command to wait for the promise of the Father (Acts 1:4 & 8).

When we are affected, inside and out -- through and through -- with the Father's promised power, then the value of the Gospel will penetrate both ourselves and our society. People will be changed. Families will be changed. Churches will be changed. Our communities will be changed. Our world will be changed.

Dear Father, thank you for your promise of the Holy Spirit's power. Grant that we may value the Gospel and by your Spirit change the world in which we live. I pray this in the name of Jesus. AMEN

Put your heart into it today,