I had an interesting interaction recently as a volunteer at a homeless shelter. While getting the dining room ready for serving dinner, one of the guests and I got a chance to talk with each other. His name is Dwayne and he is originally from Charlottesville, Virginia. He asked me a question that frames why I am sharing this devotional – he asked me why I do this? – that is, volunteer to serve him and his fellow guests. This question goes directly to the idea of core values – my core values drive me to act and to serve – we love others, family, friends, enemies, brothers and sisters in Christ, all people because Christ first loved us...
The idea of core values has been on my mind for a while now. Last August I wrote a list of core values I titled My Life List. Quoting John Maxwell “Your core values are the deeply held beliefs that authentically describe your soul.” Seems to me this applies to individuals as well as organizations…for example FMSC – our core value of keeping Christ at the center.
Recently, I was reading a devotional email that I now have read daily for several years. The author, Arlin Sorenson, I consider a friend even though we have never met face to face – Skyped and spoke on the phone several times. He writes a devotional as a part of his walk with Jesus Christ – he has done it six days a week now since 2008. One of the things I like about his emails is he shares very personally and authentically about his life in Christ.
I would like to share something that he has produced that informs and guides how he lives his life as a follower of Jesus. It starts for him with what are his core values (I will share 2 of them although he actually shared 6 or 7) – we all have values we live out.
As I read them, I felt this great resonance with what he had written – they fit with how I hope to live my life in Christ.
But, beyond that resonance, I was amazed at the meat he put around these core values of his – further definition – where in God’s Word is this core value found, what in God’s Word is calling him to live this core value, expanding what it means and what it looks like in action – WOW – what a guide for walking with our Lord.
Let me read two of them (for some brevity I have removed a couple of items he includes in his core values – those are a) his KPI for that value – how does he measure it – and – b) how does he stay accountable to living that core value. Read and absorb this…
CORE VALUES
Value:
Love God - My Primary Aim in my life
Definition:
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength”. (Mk 12:29-30)
Expanded:
Life is not about me. It centers on God and His love for others. My role is to love Him and bring glory to His name as I make Him known before others.
In Action:
In order to truly love God, I need to spend time with Him. I will do that through a daily quiet time, spending regular prayer time w/ a journal and being in weekly worship and church attendance.
Value:
Love people – Live Out God’s Primary Thing
Definition:
“Love your neighbor as yourself”. (Mk 12:31)
Expanded:
Life is all about relationships. It is the people who matter. In every touch I have with another person, I want to be guided by the Holy Spirit and follow the Golden Rule treating people as I would hope and expect to be treated.
In Action:
I want to live life focused on being a difference in the lives of people in my patch. That equates to investing time, talent and treasure into their lives.
(Source - Arlin Sorenson)
How does this move you? Does it resonate with you?
As I continued to digest this Christ centered way of looking at core values, it seemed appropriate to the new year to consider writing down core values, making sure they are based on the concrete rock solid foundation of God’s Word, to spend time fully articulating the meaning and nuance of each value and then capturing the fuller meaning of each and what living out those values would and should look like. (Still a work in progress)
I would challenge all of us that read this to listen for Jesus Christ calling each of us -to pause and take the time to walk through this exercise as a way to draw near to Him in our daily walk with Him.
The word “anchor” comes to mind when thinking about core values – Jesus Christ is your anchor. He has provided you the way to connect yourselves to Him as your anchor, through Him, now as children of God, the veil has been torn open (Matthew 27:51 “And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.”). When you accept the gift of salvation in Jesus Christ offered to you, you are casting off the chains of the anchor of the world – and in your acceptance of the gift, in the surrender of your lives to Christ, you are chaining yourselves to the One sure anchor in life.
Knowing your core values as anchored (Hebrews 6:19 “We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain,) in your faith in Jesus Christ is like building our house on the rock and not the sand (Matthew 7:24-25 ““Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.”).
How is God speaking to you as we move through this current season of COVID-19 and how you live out your life walking with Jesus Christ?
I challenge each of us to consider, at a minimum, documenting your core values in the way my friend has done above.
The idea of core values has been on my mind for a while now. Last August I wrote a list of core values I titled My Life List. Quoting John Maxwell “Your core values are the deeply held beliefs that authentically describe your soul.” Seems to me this applies to individuals as well as organizations…for example FMSC – our core value of keeping Christ at the center.
Recently, I was reading a devotional email that I now have read daily for several years. The author, Arlin Sorenson, I consider a friend even though we have never met face to face – Skyped and spoke on the phone several times. He writes a devotional as a part of his walk with Jesus Christ – he has done it six days a week now since 2008. One of the things I like about his emails is he shares very personally and authentically about his life in Christ.
I would like to share something that he has produced that informs and guides how he lives his life as a follower of Jesus. It starts for him with what are his core values (I will share 2 of them although he actually shared 6 or 7) – we all have values we live out.
As I read them, I felt this great resonance with what he had written – they fit with how I hope to live my life in Christ.
But, beyond that resonance, I was amazed at the meat he put around these core values of his – further definition – where in God’s Word is this core value found, what in God’s Word is calling him to live this core value, expanding what it means and what it looks like in action – WOW – what a guide for walking with our Lord.
Let me read two of them (for some brevity I have removed a couple of items he includes in his core values – those are a) his KPI for that value – how does he measure it – and – b) how does he stay accountable to living that core value. Read and absorb this…
CORE VALUES
Value:
Love God - My Primary Aim in my life
Definition:
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength”. (Mk 12:29-30)
Expanded:
Life is not about me. It centers on God and His love for others. My role is to love Him and bring glory to His name as I make Him known before others.
In Action:
In order to truly love God, I need to spend time with Him. I will do that through a daily quiet time, spending regular prayer time w/ a journal and being in weekly worship and church attendance.
Value:
Love people – Live Out God’s Primary Thing
Definition:
“Love your neighbor as yourself”. (Mk 12:31)
Expanded:
Life is all about relationships. It is the people who matter. In every touch I have with another person, I want to be guided by the Holy Spirit and follow the Golden Rule treating people as I would hope and expect to be treated.
In Action:
I want to live life focused on being a difference in the lives of people in my patch. That equates to investing time, talent and treasure into their lives.
(Source - Arlin Sorenson)
How does this move you? Does it resonate with you?
As I continued to digest this Christ centered way of looking at core values, it seemed appropriate to the new year to consider writing down core values, making sure they are based on the concrete rock solid foundation of God’s Word, to spend time fully articulating the meaning and nuance of each value and then capturing the fuller meaning of each and what living out those values would and should look like. (Still a work in progress)
I would challenge all of us that read this to listen for Jesus Christ calling each of us -to pause and take the time to walk through this exercise as a way to draw near to Him in our daily walk with Him.
The word “anchor” comes to mind when thinking about core values – Jesus Christ is your anchor. He has provided you the way to connect yourselves to Him as your anchor, through Him, now as children of God, the veil has been torn open (Matthew 27:51 “And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.”). When you accept the gift of salvation in Jesus Christ offered to you, you are casting off the chains of the anchor of the world – and in your acceptance of the gift, in the surrender of your lives to Christ, you are chaining yourselves to the One sure anchor in life.
Knowing your core values as anchored (Hebrews 6:19 “We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain,) in your faith in Jesus Christ is like building our house on the rock and not the sand (Matthew 7:24-25 ““Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.”).
How is God speaking to you as we move through this current season of COVID-19 and how you live out your life walking with Jesus Christ?
I challenge each of us to consider, at a minimum, documenting your core values in the way my friend has done above.