One of the things that I hear people talking about a lot in these days are their ‘values.’ This can mean a lot of different things to different people but most often I hear things like;

• “I have a high value for this”
• “That goes against my values!”
• “I feel undervalued”
• “We have shared values”

I could, and should, write another post all about what it means to have shared values as a nation/culture/community etc. but not today! What I do want to pick up on is the idea of us having certain values that we live by. I have a few questions around this;

1 – How should we form our values?

Without answering the question of the post that I am not writing, I want to think about where our values come from. There are probably a few different sources. Often they are things that we have learnt or maybe even unlearnt from our families. Perhaps they are values that are common in our culture, our community, or our friendship group. Sometimes these values are deep and have been crafted for generations. Sometimes they are new and have formed in reaction to something that has happened recently within our world.

As a follower of Jesus my hope and my desire is that my values are formed around Kingdom principles, that my values are the same as Jesus and His instructions about how to live my life. I love others, not because my culture tells me, but because Christ compels me. I am generous not because my family were but because Jesus was. Now, I’m not saying that those other things can’t influence or be helpful to me, but my base and basis as a follower of Jesus…..has to be Jesus.

2 – So should we ever change our values?

This is a tough one and I believe it is entirely dependant on how we formed our values. if we formed them on group norms, reactions to things occurring around us etc. it stands to reason that if the situation changes, our friendship group changes, or our address changes, that it’s entirely possible that our values could change. Even long held values within our families could change if our relationship within our family shifts, or we never truly embodied our family values personally.

I believe as a follower of Jesus this ‘should’ be different. Our God exists outside of space, time, and matter. He is an unchanging God, not an old fashioned, stuck in His ways kind of God, but a God who is big enough, wide enough and strong enough to handle all that the world goes through. He created this world, it does not surprise Him. Therefore when our values are based on Him then they should be unchanging to a large degree. In many ways those values should be ‘locked’.

3 – But how come I’ve seen many Christians violate those so called ‘locked’ values?

Yeah, the truth is even though all who follow Jesus should have the same ‘locked’ values we don’t always agree on those and even when we do they don’t always appear locked. I think there are a couple of reasons why and I’d love to use a story from the book of 1 Samuel in the bible to illustrate. It’s regarding King Saul and a battle he was fighting against the Philistines.

The Philistines assembled and came and set up camp at Shunem, while Saul gathered all Israel and set up camp at Gilboa. When Saul saw the Philistine army, he was afraid; terror filled his heart. He inquired of the LORD, but the LORD did not answer him by dreams or Urim or prophets. 1 Sam 28:4-6

I’ve underlined the key part here. He was filled with fear. Our values are often under most threat when life is stretched or things are looking bad for us. Our values don’t often get stretched when things are ok, when things are normal, it’s when the pressure is on. Watch how Saul reacts.

Saul then said to his attendants, “Find me a woman who is a medium, so I may go and inquire of her.” “There is one in Endor, ” they said. So Saul disguised himself, putting on other clothes, and at night he and two men went to the woman. “Consult a spirit for me,” he said, “and bring up for me the one I name.” But the woman said to him, “Surely you know what Saul has done. He has cut off the mediums and spiritists from the land. Why have you set a trap for my life to bring about my death?” Saul swore to her by the LORD, “As surely as the LORD lives, you will not be punished for this.” 1 Sam 28:7-10

The story goes on and Saul ends up getting in trouble but that’s not what we are talking about today. The big thing here is that Saul was the person who banned the use of mediums and spiritualists from the country. His ‘values’ were that people shouldn’t use these ungodly ways to look into their future, so he stopped them from operating in Israel. However when he himself was struggling for direction and couldn’t hear from the Lord, he went back on this values he had because he was desperate.

We must be so careful that desperation doesn’t force us to go back on our values and beliefs. But that’s not the only time that we need to be careful. As well as our values being under threat when we are desperate, I believe they are also under threat when we have success, attention, or things are going ‘really well’. In those moments we often feel untouchable or that we are above the very rules or values that we have established. All the more reason that we base on values on something that is solid.

4 – As Jesus followers can our values change in a healthy way?

Throughout this post I have displayed the word ‘locked’ with inverted commas because whilst they are locked in so many ways we must also be open to the fact that we grow in our understanding and knowledge as we grow in our relationship with Christ. When I first followed Jesus I had many beliefs or values that quite frankly were wrong, misguided and whilst they felt ‘locked’ in me I am glad that I matured and those things changed.

In conclusion….

We need to be clear around where we place our values. If we are following Jesus those values must be based on Him and not on anything else. They can’t be based on cultural norms, community values or pop culture. We can’t alter them based on social pressures, fear, success, or any of their friends. I know that this isn’t easy in our cancel culture, shared value world, but we know the truth and that truth sets us free.