Price Check

Price Check

Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways! Romans 11:33

Time and again God’s ways prove different from our ways. Those eternal things upon which He places great value we often treat with scorn. And those things we treat as treasures are temporal, fleeting possessions to Him.

Why does Jesus always seem to be switching the price tags on our values? Clearly His values don’t match those of a society bent on success, achievement, and winning for the sake of winning. His price tags are the right ones; we’ve switched them and misplaced our values. One of the most obvious areas in which we’ve done that is education and sports. We pay athletes and entertainers much more than we pay teachers. Many of us would rather have a son who grows up to be a starting shortstop for the Yankees than a social worker who helps hundreds of people get their lives back on track.

We see this when children are pushed to compete in sports by overzealous parents. Sometimes parents and coaches try to live vicariously through their children’s achievements, and they can take every umpire’s call personally or treat the other team as the enemy—even though the kids are only playing a game. Athletics is not the only arena in which we sometimes try to achieve our dreams—on our own or through our children. But these dreams won’t really satisfy us. We often put our highest price tags on things of much lesser value.

Do you feel the stress and strain of misplaced price tags in your life? If so, maybe it’s time to remember what’s most important and focus on that. You’ll notice that Jesus and society have two different value systems. He emphasized humility, hunger for truth and righteousness, and things that have eternal rather than temporary importance. Society emphasizes power, status, awards, fame, and wealth. Whose values would you rather follow? Stay focused on God’s values, and help others see the folly in many of the world’s values.

Uncommon Key > Values are a choice, and some of society’s price tags cost too much. What are you paying for today? Choose what’s good, true, and lasting.