Someone once said, “Don’t tell me what your priorities are. Show me where you spend your money and I will tell you what they are.” Where we go, what we read, the people we associate with, the clothes we wear, what we buy, what we view, the car we drive, where we live, right on down to our very signature, gives us away. It’s a diary of our lives, and there is no mistaking where our heart is.

“Values are like fingerprints. Nobody’s are the same, but you leave them all
over everything that you do.”

“Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways. Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes. Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways.” Haggai 1:5-7

Truth, honesty, virtue, character, integrity are the values that support our nation, states, communities, businesses, congregations, and our homes. They are the pillars of support needed to build each. Our lives must be built upon the firm foundation of Biblical Truth and Biblical values, otherwise we will fail miserably, for we can be no stronger than the foundation upon which our lives are built.

Our nation and our homes continue to flounder in a sea of materialism because of a misplaced sense of priorities and values. There seems to be a “checkbook” mentality from our government to our homes. I have seen absentee parents spend very little time with their children. To compensate for that lack of time, they buy them “things”…..re-enforcing the idea to their children that material wealth is far more important in life than those things which are eternal, which have lasting value. Values on which to build a firm foundation for the rest of their lives…….and then I have talked to parents whose children are grown and live with regrets for not having taken time to impart God’s values to their children. The conversation goes much like this, “I wish I had.” “I should have.” “I could have, but I didn’t.” “I was too busy working all of the time.” ….and on it goes, day after day, year after year, until at last the children are grown, and the cycle repeats itself. Case after case of majoring in minors and minoring in majors.

“Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of Mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house: and it fell: and great was the fall of it.” Matthew 7:24-27

Some parents will tell me they want their children to marry a person of wealth and status. In essence they are telling them that material wealth, money is far more important than marrying one that will help them get to heaven. A person of high moral character, that places God first in their lives means nothing to them, just the status of the person’s job, and the material possessions they can acquire.

“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” Matthew 6:24

I talked to my friend today about a man like that. He and his wife spent years acquiring wealth so that they could take their ease in retirement. The news today was not good. The man was diagnosed with inoperable cancer and is not expected to live much longer. We allow Satan to deceive us into thinking there is time.

“And I will say to my soul, “Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” Luke 12:19-21

My brother-in-law made the same mistake. He and his wife put back large amounts of money, until one day, my brother-in-law’s leg was causing pain. He was placed in the hospital, a battery of tests, got a clean bill of health and less than 24 hours later, he was dead. Flesh eating disease took his life…..He went into eternity without God, and they never got around to building their home on the timeless values of God’s Word. There was always a “more convenient season.”

“There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
Proverbs 14:12

“While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal: but the things which are not seen are eternal.” II Corinthians 4:18

My prayer is that our nation will once again return to a firm foundation based upon God’s Word, and have a moral leadership within the White House, and that our families do the same. For as the home goes, so goes the nation.

“For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” I Corinthians 3:11

“Consumerism has created a culture that
values style over substance,
image over reality, and
perception over performance.”

Eileen Light