What’s Important In Your Life? — Morning Devotions

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Transcript

The 1995 movie Braveheart was a great film. Did you see that? In one scene, William Wallace faces execution for treason because of his fight for Scottish independence against the English king.

The night before the execution, his friends begged him to recant his position to escape a grisly death, but his reply is very interesting. All men die, but not all men truly live. I think it’s a great thought. We don’t know how long life will last. A friend told me a few days ago that he has pancreatic cancer. How long has he got? It’s a sobering question. It prompts a lot of thinking. Why am I here? Life is short, and it’s difficult to know the most precious things that we should cling on to whilst we’re on this journey.

And sometimes we lose sight of what’s meaningful amongst the chaos. We have different needs, but generally there are some important things in life that should not be taken for granted. What are the issues that are important in my life? I didn’t choose to be born. I’m not sure when my life will end, but I do have choices that I can make, and I know it comes down to one word, values. What do I value the most?

What do we value?

Values control everything. When our values are unclear, we become confused, and when the values are in conflict, we’ve got a dilemma. Where do we get these values?

Most likely we get them from our parents who are the most important people in those early years of childhood, who we become and how we see the world is shaped a lot by our upbringing. We do learn a lot from our parents. Some things make sense right away, and others make sense as we get older, and these lessons help us to handle the ups and downs of life, to make better choices and how to get along with others. And some examples of family values include mutual respect, honesty, responsibility, integrity, and cooperation.

Not every child has a healthy upbringing. So I’m talking in general terms. Values are the foundation of a family. They create the framework that we need to know where we’re headed and who we want to be. Instilling values through example and direct conversations will ground your parenting, even in the difficult times. Many values we have are absorbed without a lot of thinking. It’s all about the culture that we live in. Some are good, others are not. You probably automatically took them on board.

Values control everything

But a sudden crisis like a bankruptcy, relationship break down, family death or illness makes us stop and ask questions like, am I heading in the right direction? It often is a wake-up call. Am I wasting my time? It’s time to sit down and write up a list of the 10 most important values that you want to build your life upon. Does it really matter? Yes, it does. If you don’t establish a definition of success, other people will do it for you. This morning, I’m trying to say, you must decide what is important to you.

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Jesus said, it’s possible to be outwardly successful – financially, socially, and still be spiritually bankrupt on the inside.

One day Jesus said, What does it profit you if you gain the whole world and lose your own soul? What a challenging question. Being an active Christian and living for Jesus as his follower introduces another set of values and culture. It was the apostle Paul who wrote, Don’t become so well adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. In other words, Paul was saying, if you buy into this world’s value system you could miss God’s purpose for your life.

For some, personal prestige is important. That’s the image that they want to give others. But listen, Jesus said this in Mark 10:31. Many people who seem to be important now will be the least important in eternity. Let me recommend you to Solomon, a king who ruled in Israel for 40 years. He had great wealth and wisdom that God had given him in abundance. But he wrote in the Bible, I amassed every possession and gained everything, but it’s all useless and worthless – all is vanity.

Without God in His life, there was no point. You might be thinking, I don’t have the time to evaluate what’s important. I’m so confused already. I would like to change. I don’t have the energy anymore. So that’s why you need a personal saviour, Jesus Christ, to show you, you can’t create the good life on your own.

Let’s Pray

Dear God, I want my life to count for something. I want to build my life on values that last. Help me to eliminate what is not of value and to start living for you. Amen.

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