Value

Most of us would love to slow our lives down. We'd love to rest a little more, reflect a little more, savor the things we enjoy a little more. Yet, for many of us it's been a long time since we intentionally slowed down our lives, slow enough to ponder unthinkable size questions! Not unthinkable that we can't think about them, but unthinkable that when we do think about them they boggle the mind. And the truth is most of us try not to think about these life-size questions, in fact, the faster we do life the less time we'll have for our minds to wrestle these questions.

Questions that will takes us to overwhelming answers, answers that are completely life altering when we study and apply the truth of them to our lives. But I'm asking you to slow down long enough to wrestle with a question and then apply the answer to your life. 

What gives my life value?

Back many years ago when I completely my master's degree, my parents gave me a very special gift. Now, you need to know that my parents weren't banking on me ever finishing college. So, when I finished my master's degree it was a fairly big deal in our family. Leading my parents to give me a hand touched autographed painting by Thomas Kinkade. I love art that I understand, but what makes this painting valuable to me is that it has the artist hand touched signature on it, and even though it's from a series, because the artist hand touched it... it's unique. He signed it!

Not a stamp, it's not a copy, I know that the artist himself touched this painting and signed it. And it's his personal touches and signature that give this painting its value.

Yet, I've always been amazed by what gives something value.

Pursues, you can have the same name on them but one of them is real and comes from the designer while the other is a knock off (one purse a Coach and the other a "fo-ach"). One was dug out of the bottom of a pile and one was unlocked from a secure area. What's the difference? the value is from the designer, one is from his shop, with his seal of approval is on it. When I purchased one of these I haggled over the price and keep working him down. The other had a set price and they told me to take it or leave it. One had little to no value but the other had significant value.

But the value of stuff is not a life altering question. When we're talking about value I need to know what gives my life value!?!

Genesis 1:27

So God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female.

I am created by the hands of God and God's signature is all over my life! I have value because I am the unique, one of a kind creation of God. How does this answer change the way you see yourself? Don't let the world tell you what your worth when your designed, your Creator has already set the price!!!

Endurance verses Influence

Personally, as a husband and dad... I know, that I'll take a greater leap of faith with my own life than I ever will with the lives of my family. There are plenty of things I've done; and may do again, that I think long and hard about before I'd let my kids do it. There are also a lot of things I'll sit through before I'd ever recommend it to someone else. I mean, if I take a chance on something and it wasted my time then I've only blown a few hours in my day, but if I recommend something and it doesn't pan out like I said or the other person hates my recommendation, well then I've got my reputation on the line, our friendship might become strained, my word carries less weight. And what I've learned through this personality issue is the difference between endurance and influence! In other words...

I'm willing to endure much more chance than I'm willing to influence others to accept.

And spiritually, many people are caught right here. When it comes to faith, when it comes to asking someone to bring their pains and burdens before the Lord... we freeze, right here in this personality issue. When someone comes to you, as a friend, co-worker, family member and begins to share with you something that is overwhelming, or something that is going to leave a wound in their life... you come to this choice. Should I use my opinions? Or will I turn to God's wisdom and allow His truth to be spoken into their life?

This conflict begins for many people inside the church with this though, "Yes, I'm a Christian and I know that when someone gets sick that you pray and that God, the great physician, will heal them... (and publicly, we shout amen and tell the church about our faith and how we know God's going to heal them... but deep inside we wonder... is He going to heal them, is He going to answer my prayer the way I prayed it or will He do something else?!?)

So when someone from the community or the workplace has a sick loved one or is going through a tough time financially, or a crisis in their home life... we are caught deciding, do I really believe what I'm supposed to say?!? I know I'm suppose to tell them that God's in control, that God will heal or restore or fix whatever they have wrong in their life... but I've watched prayers go up and on one day the situation is completely restored... and the next day I watched prayers go up and the situation fall completely apart.

This internal conflicts creates the mindset, "I believe in God and I'm willing to endure what feels like chance when it comes to prayer but I can't influence someone to endure the same random level of chance in their time of crisis."

OR maybe the situation in front of you is a friend, co-workers, or family member who is making decisions contrary to God's word and then they come looking for your support?!? They want us to agree with their choices and choose them... over any moral convictions we may have due to our faith. Bringing us to the question...

Am I willing to trust God's wisdom and accept His authority enough to share His word with the world around me?