VALUES!

Our Values

 

Power. Intelligence. Ability. Efficiency. Winning. Affluence. Visibility.

These are among the values we hold in high esteem, idolize…even worship.

Human frailty, failure, weakness, and poverty we avoid like the plague.

In society there is little room or tolerance for those who are second or third string. Society’s mind set says we have to be the main cog in the wheel if we are going to be noticed or accepted. If we are not, we are considered out of date. We are not “with it.” Prestige comes with our position in society.

So what happens if God decides to deal with our pride through illness and frailty… possibly through failure? What happens when we cannot call the shots, control the circumstances, or determine the outcome?

Is our peace of mind and our sense of worth so fragile that it is predicated upon the guarantee of life’s optimum circumstances or upon a continual string of successes and recognition? Or is it based upon an inner intimacy with Jesus Christ? If not, then God has some serious work to do on our soul.

Remember, our Sovereign Father’s two primary objectives are His glory, and the development of our character into Christ-likeness, and He will use whatever means necessary to accomplish them.

Pain, may well be God’s megaphone to a spiritually deaf world.

Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? And I will not give my glory unto another.  Isaiah 48:10-11

As long as we are relying upon our accomplishments or bowing to the world’s way of thinking to gain from them our peace or sense of worth, God is unable to work in and through us. Because it is only in our weakness… yes, in our dependency upon Him that He chooses to work and to give us inner-contentment:

And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. 2 Cor 12:9-10

I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.  Phil 4:12-13

QUESTION: Do we need a paradigm (an outstandingly clear or typical example) shift in values? What do we think God thinks?