Encouraging - True Value

Isn’t it amazing that we turn to others who have a perspective as limited and darkened as our own to discover our worth! Rather than relying on God’s steady, uplifting reassurance of who we are, we depend on others who base our worth on our ability to meet our standards. Because our performance and ability to please others so dominate our search for significance, we have difficulty recognizing the distinction between our real identity and the way we behave, a realization crucial to understanding our true worth. Our true value is based not on our behavior or the approval of others but on what God’s Word says is true of us. Our behavior is often a reflection of our beliefs about who we are. It is usually consistent with what we think to be true about ourselves (Prov 23:7).

Robert S. McGee, The Search For Significance: Seeing Your True Worth Through God's Eyes (Thomas Nelson, Nashville, TN: 2003), 19-20.

Encouraging - Values

For those of you who are receiving this by email, if you have time, click on the link for my blog and check out a cool feature I have recently added. Once on the blog, http://www.colincreel.blogspot.com/, move the cursor over the Scripture reference and see what happens. In addition, for most posts that include a passage from a book, I add a link for those that are interested to find out more about the book referenced. I also have added some fun pictures of Cole in the sidebar.

The heart always provides for what it values (Matthew 6:19-34), and if we value God first, our capacity to love him and others will expand. If we value the world first, we will miss out on not only the joys of knowing God but also the joys of this life. Relationships will denigrate into contacts, and we will seek to manipulate people to get what we think we want. We will be driven to accomplish and impress, and this will detract from quality time with those we love. Activities will take precedence over intimacy, both with God and with people. The idol of accomplishment will erode the aesthetics of the spirit and leave us busy and weary. We will work harder to influence people, and by seeking our security in their responses, we will become disconnected from our true security in Christ. The only way off this treadmill is repentance and return to the pursuit of Christ in place of the pursuit of the world.

Ken Boa, Conformed to His Image (Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI: 2001), 47.