Together We Think

What possessions do you find valuable? For me, it is many things. Here is a brief, non-exhaustive list:

• My house
• My cars
• My clothes
• My watches
• My health

There are a lot of things I find valuable in life. Some are more important than others, but all can become a distraction if I’m not careful. In the picture above you see my 1965 Dodge Coronet. Yes, I am kind of a car guy and no, I do not own this car anymore. I sold it before our move to Georgia, but man did I have fun with it when it was mine, (Thanks to my bride for putting up with it!!) and yes, it was very valuable to me!

There is nothing wrong with finding things valuable and enjoying nice things. The problem comes when I try to gain my value from them. Let me tell you this is all to easy for me to do. I all too often have a tendency to try and define myself by the clothes I wear, the cars I drive, the watch on me wrist, the home I live in…ad infinitum!

I have walked around many days in my life not only defining myself by these things, but hoping others might find my value in them and valuing others by these things as well. It is a part of the human condition, and it is hard to stop.

We live in a society that in many ways pushes us to define ouselves by how much we have, how nice it is, how good we look , and the list could go on and on. The reason this is so insidious for us as followers of Christ is that it flies completely in the face of where our true value comes from. All through scripture it tells us that we find our value in our Heavenly Father. It is because He has made us and loves us that we have true value. And yet, we strive hard to find value in so many other things.

The ultimate problem with this striving is that it never works. The recognition from others fades quickly; the home or car gets old quickly and someone has a nicer one; the clothes and accessories are only new once; someone always makes more than me; and the list goes on and on.

Why do we do this? What’s going on inside of us? The Bible says that God has “planted eternity in the hearts of men” (Ecc. 3:11) God wired us for something greater. He made us to love us and help us discover our incredible value in Him. He made us to experience His love and appreciation, so this desire to be valued is a good and noble desire! It is just all to often misplaced in our lives. We all too often mistake the temporal values for the eternal and we look to the possessions of this world to define who we are instead of the One who made us and loves us. The problem with these possessions and positions is that they are not Val- “You”-able! They cannot fulfill the hunger inside us that needs to be valued and loved. Only our Heavenly Father can do that as we grow more and more in love with Him. Only He is Val- “You”- able in our lives!

The questions as we close today is, what possessions are you trying to gain your value from? How can you set those aside and turn today toward the One who is able to help you understand and find your true value?

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? ²⁶Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” Matthew 6: 25,26