OUR DAILY BREAD : A QUESTION OF VALUES

[cimi]

February 4
Thursday


A QUESTION
OF VLAUES

READ:
Colossians 3:1-11
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Set your mind on things
above, not on things
on the earth.
__Colossians 3:2
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On a trip through Chicago, I saw a poster advertising a business management seminar. The poster's message was intriguing: The Value of a Leader Is Directly Proportional to That Leader's Values. The accuracy of that statement struck me. What we value shapes our character--and will ultimately define how we lead, or whether we can lead at all. This doe not apply only to leaders, however.

For the follower of Christ, values are even more significant. When Paul wrote to the believers at Colosse, he said, "Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth" (Col. 3:2). His point is that only as we allow our values to be motivated and shaped by the eternal (not the temporal) will we be effective ambassadors of Christ in the world. It is in the understanding that we are pilgrims in this world, not tourists, that we can keep a clear perspective and an undistracted heart--and can more effectively serve the Savior.

It has been said that we live in a world that knows the cost of everything but the value of nothing. In this world of the "here and now," however, followers of Christ are called to build our values around what lasts forever. To say it another way: The Effectiveness of a Believer Is Directly Proportional to That Believer's Values. __Bill Crowder
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`````````````````O Lord, you see what's in the heart--`````````````
````````````````````There's nothing hid from You,````````````````
````````````````````So help us live the kind of life````````````````
`````````````That's honest, good, and true. __D. De Haan```````````
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Hold tightly to what is eternal,
but loosely to what is temporal.

************Today's Bible Reading __ Colossians 3:1-11************

1 If then you were raised
with Christ, seek those
things which are above,
where Christ is, sitting at
the right hand of God. 2 Set
your mind on things above,
not on things on the earth.

3 For you died, and your life
is hidden with Christ in
God. 4 When Christ who is
our life appears, then you
also will appear with Him
in glory.

5 Therefore put to death
your members which are on
the earth: fornication,
uncleanness, passion, evil
desire, and covetousness,
which is idolatry. 6 Because
of these things the wrath of
God is coming upon the
sons of disobedience, 7 in
which you yourselves once
walked when you lived in
them.

8 But now you yourselves
are to put off all these:
anger, wrath, malice,
blasphemy, filthy language
out of your mouth. 9 Do not
lie to one another, since you
have put off the old man
with his deeds, 10 and have
put on the new man who is
renewed in knowledge
according to the image of
him who created him,

11 where there is neither
Greek nor Jew, circumcised
nor uncircumcised,
barbarian, Scythian, slave
nor free, but christ is all
and in all.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

During the apostle Paul's 3-year ministry in Ephesus, Epaphras was
converted and brought the gospel to Colosse. Scholar A. T. Robertson
wrote of this letter to Colosse: "He had no greater message for any
church than he here gives concerning the Person of Christ. There is no
more imPortant message today for modern men." __BILL CROWDER