What Do You Hold Most Valuable?

What do you consider valuable in your life?

Is it objects or possessions? These may be the first things that come to mind because we are used to thinking of things in terms of monetary value. A new flat screen television is more valuable than an old black and white one.

Or maybe you value time—where you would rather spend your time, or how much time spent earning something you really wanted.

Whether we realize it or not, we place value on people, things, and ways of life, and those values may change over time.

As a new mother, I valued sleep over staying up late to watch a movie. While more recently, I’ve realized spending time hanging out with my family is more valuable to me than spending time online.

Over time, and as our lives change, we realize certain things hold greater or lesser importance to us than they may have before.

For Paul, his values changed when he came to know Christ.

Known then as Saul, he was zealous for the Jewish law. Born straight from the lineage of the tribe of Benjamin, and circumcised at eight days old, he counted himself as righteous because he obeyed the law without fault. (Philippians 3:5-6)

And then…Saul met Jesus and his life was changed forever. He realized his value for upholding every aspect of the Jewish law paled in comparison to knowing Christ as his personal Savior.

Knowing Jesus changed him, and in turn, his values (and his name) changed.

I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead! Philippians 3:7-11 NLT

That’s what Christ does—He transforms us.

As our faith grows, our values change…because knowing Jesus changes us—from the inside out.

Walking with Jesus changes our hearts. It changes what we see as important. And it changes what we don’t want to live without.

How have your values changed as your faith has grown and as you’ve gone through different life stages?

In Christ,

Laura

Laura Rath ~ Journey in Faith

 

What would I die for?

Are you ready for an adventure? The Come Follow Me” message series will paint a scriptural picture of what it means to follow Jesus.

Each week, we will ask a question and then explore its answer. In addition, we will have lots of guest posts that will give a different perspective to the topic at hand. And of course, we want to hear your thoughts! So, join in the conversation.

Ready to join us?

Grafted to the Source of Life

I have never tried to graft a rose. Although I have roses in my garden, and it looks like a challenge I would take on just to see if I could do it, it looks tedious.

Grafting is a process that takes continued nurturing to make sure the bud cut from one rose fuses to the stem of the plant you want it to grow from. If the bud is cut wrong, it will wilt and die. If the stem of the main plant is cut too deep, the bud won’t get the nutrients it needs to grow. If the bud is not attached correctly, the two will not fuse.

Everything has to be just right for the tiny little bud to attach and become part of the main plant.

We, as Gentiles, have been adopted into God’s family—grafted to Him—the source of life.

Everything had to be just right for this to happen, and God is the Only One who could—and would—do it.

Jesus said, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.” (John 15:1)

God is the gardener—with more love and patience than I can ever imagine—tenderly nurturing every branch of the vine.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.” (John 15:5-6)

After a while, a gardener knows if the rose bud will grow or die. Just like it will not grow if it does not get the nutrients from the main stem, our faith will not grow if it is not nourished through the source of life.

So, how do we make sure our faith continues to grow? By abiding in Jesus. He holds us close, but He won’t force us to stay attached to the vine.

We must make that effort…

…to be in His Word

…to listen for His voice

…to worship with others

…to pray daily, talking to Him and including Him in our day

…to follow His lead, even when we’d rather go our own way.

This effort may not be easy, but it will always be worth it.

How do you make sure you remain in Jesus—the true vine?

 

In Christ,

Laura

Laura Rath ~ Journey in Faith

 

Photo credit: Stock photo: ROSE

Ordinary People – Extraordinary God

I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10

Starting Jan. 11-12, we will examine how our extraordinary God uses ordinary people to fulfill His purposes. God has a history of using regular, ordinary and oftentimes, flawed and brokenindividuals to bring to fruition His heart as Hebrews 11 testifies. He used these ordinary people, who through faith subdued kingdoms,obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong and became valiant in battle.

And God’s work continues with us. We can take heart. We are in good company. These witnesses started out on the same footing as us—ordinary and flawed with lots of sinful baggage, and yet, God worked through them in amazing ways.

We would love to hear stories about how you have seen God work through you or someone you know. If you can’t recall a recent example, find your favorite imperfect person in the Bible and tell us where he/she began and how God work with him/her.

Simply comment at the end of this post.

2013 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 9,900 times in 2013. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 4 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.