“They
followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless.”--2 Kings
17:15b, NIV
Following the death
of King Solomon, Israel split into two kingdoms and both began a downward
spiral into idolatry, rejecting the worship of Yahweh for the fertility gods
native to Canaan. They turned their
devotion from God and gave it to other things.
In the scripture passage, the writer explains very clearly that if you
worship worthless things, you become worthless. What you value determines who
you will become.
Each of us has
certain innate values. What we value
gives us worth. These are the things
that make us get up in the morning, the things to which we are devoted.
We usually don’t
think about these but we can identify them when we reflect on what is important
to us. When I do appreciative inquiry
with a congregation, we begin with exercises that help the participants to
recognize and share the common values that unite them. Those present may vary by age, gender,
economic status, and race, but they quickly identify those things that they
value in common.
I submit that values
may well be more important that vision in providing direction for a
congregation or an individual. Our values provide both motivation and clarity.
When we know what is important to us, we can decide what course we will pursue. Our values determine what we will become.
The Christian values
his or her relation to God above all else, but what are the behavioral, relational,
and ethical values that grow out of that relationship? It is a question worth asking.
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