Bummer Buster Friday - A Life List Based On God's Word

Good morning!


Do you have a life list? Recently, I had a chance to uncover a list I made several years ago and it spurred me on to revisit this idea of what are my core values. 

Before I spend more time on my life list, I would like to frame my thinking about this by some thoughts around the Bible. The Bible represents God's story - it is not my story except as He has created you and me.  So when we first look at scripture we should try to understand what God is sharing about Himself, what does He want us to know - and only then might we look further to understand how He wants to be in relationship with us (as an individual and as a community of believers)
 
Here is the list I made back a few years ago. How does this apply to my daily life and maybe to yours?…
 
My Life List:

1. Time spent with Jesus –
   1. every morning;
   2. every evening;
   3. everyday
2. Best effort in all the work I do (God ask us to glorify Him in all that we do - 1 Corinthians 10:31)
3. Be a Philippians 2:1-8 person – live in service to others:
   1. Wife / family
   2. Neighbors
   3. Friends
   4. Strangers
   5. Enemies – or those very different from me
4. Turn to Christ in all circumstances
5. By generous – God has provided all I have – hold it with open hands – both time, talent and money
6. Walk in Christ in all interactions with others…

 
I believe this quote by John Maxwell gets to how core values apply to daily living - “Your core values are the deeply held beliefs that authentically describe your soul.” – this applies to individuals as well as organizations and communities of believers…and I think this speaks to understanding how we live in Christ.
 
When I wrote this list I later shared it in a devotional just a few weeks later - I shared the following – it was a piece on what are your (and my) core values fueled by a friend who lives life framed this way – this list above in some sense is the start of a set of core values to live my life by. I think this whole idea of life lists or core values is important and applies to drawing near to God so I am re-sharing these thoughts as well:

• I sense/hear Jesus Christ calling out to me to pause and take the time to walk through this exercise as a way to draw near to Him in my daily walk with Him (see James 4:8, Hebrews 4:16; 7:19, 25; 10:1, 22, 25; 11:16). The word “anchor” comes to mind – Jesus Christ is our anchor. He has provided us the way to connect ourselves to Him as our anchor, through Him, now children of God, the veil has been torn open (Matthew 27:51). When we accept the gift of salvation in Jesus Christ offered to us, we are casting off the chains of the anchor of the world – and in our acceptance of the gift, in the surrender of our lives to Christ, we are chaining ourselves to the One sure anchor in life.

 

• Knowing our core values as anchored (Hebrews 6:19) in our faith in Jesus Christ is like building our house on the rock and not the sand (Matthew 7:23-25).

 
I am glad that the Holy Spirit resurfaced the life list I had produced in the past moving it back to the forefront for me. I pray that I keep this piece of meditating in Him out front. And that this represents and authentically describes my heart and soul in Jesus Christ. And that it aligns with God's heart for my life and yours.
 
Lord Jesus, my prayer for each of us as we go into this weekend is that each of us finds a way in this year to keep you, Jesus Christ centered in our lives, that we see the framework You have provided for us to live in You, for Your glory! Amen!
 
Have a weekend filled with the Peace that comes from knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
 
Patrick