Values

A short while ago the British government was saying that more power would be given to people to have an influence on decisions made about their towns and cities. A TV interviewer was trying to find out whether any members of the public were interested in being involved in this. One lady said ‘No, we’re too busy’ and another said ‘No, we’re enjoying our retirement too much’. I wondered if they were indifferent to such matters.

All of us have a choice about how to live our lives, how to spend our time, our money and our energy. I’ve noticed that some of us focus so much on the future that we don’t get the best out of the present. We have goals and ambitions but at the end of the day we wonder where the time has gone. It’s slipped by so quickly.

The farmer in a story Jesus told was like that. He let his life slip away without ever realising what the most important thing of all should have been. Suddenly it was too late and Jesus said he was a fool (Luke 12:21).

Many years ago in a training programme for telephone counsellors a man came to talk to us about the subject of values clarification. He asked us the question if we were told we only had a short time to live would we change what we are doing? If we said yes then we weren’t living in accordance with our values.

The farmer had planned for this retirement and it was a only a self-centred scheme for pleasure. He hadn’t any interest in what God wanted for his life. People of wealth and privilege have the power to do so much for others. Jesus expected His rich followers to give to the poor and needy and his poor followers to trust God for provision of their daily needs. Above all we are expected to be more interested in the Kingdom of God than material possessions.

‘But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God’ (Luke 12:20-21). I want to be rich towards God and lay up treasure in Heaven, don’t you?

Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, help me to get my priorities right and value the things that You value. May I seize the opportunity each day to do Your will in my life. Please set me free from the magnet of materialism which distracts from the Kingdom of Heaven. Amen.