A few years ago, we heard the term “values voters” thrown around a bit in the media to refer to those who were voting for political candidates primarily on the basis of moral issues, as if the other voters weren't voting based on their personal values. What is sometimes misunderstood is that we all act out our values. Whatever we give our attention and affection to, we value. And what we value determines how we make decisions. The question is, where do we get our values to begin with?
People who follow Jesus as His disciples should form their values to align with His. But we don’t come to His values naturally. We aren't born valuing all the right things. And we don’t necessarily inherit all the right values from our parents even though parenting is an enormous factor. And we certainly don’t form Jesus’ values culturally. Society around us often develops a completely false set of values rooted purely in the temporal world.
To discover and form Jesus’ values, we must come to them by revelation. That is, God has spoken to unveil correct values for us. And we must discover Jesus’ values by rebirth as well. We don’t naturally embrace God’s revelation of Himself – we must do so supernaturally, which happens by the Holy Spirit’s power when we are born again.
The Bible says, “And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.” (1 Corinthians 2:12 NLT)
You possess values, and you live by them. The question is, where do your values come from?
