The Values of Jesus

Are yours the same as His?

The scriptures urge us to have the ‘mind’ of Christ within us [Phil 2:5 KJV]. Alternate translations for ‘mind’ use the word ‘attitude’ [e.g., NASB, CSB]. It seems likely to me that our attitudes flow out of or from our values, i.e., “one’s judgment of what is important in life”.  These ‘values’ may, in some ways be almost unconscious, being so deeply ingrained within us via our upbringing, as well as values we have absorbed by observation of important persons in or outside our life that we admire e.g., parent, coach, teacher, youth leader, media personality, sports hero, etc.  We accumulate values as we grow up and we modify them, add new ones, and abandon/reject ones based on our life experiences, peer pressure and re-assessment of what we now believe to be true as well as important.

It is difficult to change in a more permanent way, an attitude, unless we change the value upon which the attitude is based.  All of us would agree that love is an important value.  Jesus affirmed this by stating that all the Old Testament law could be summarized by only two commandments: love God with your whole being, and love your neighbor as yourself [Luke 10:27-28, Matt 22:37-40].  The young lawyer who questioned Jesus about ‘who is my neighbor’ [Lk 10:29] was likely seeking to either trap Jesus by this question, [vs. 25] and perhaps also seeking to confirm that his ‘value’ of love was legitimate-i.e., love only those who also love you in return, including your family and friends. The value Jesus placed upon love of neighbor was very different.  He included strangers, even enemies within the description of ‘neighbor’ [Luke 10:30-37].

For us to aspire to be serious followers of Jesus, we must increasingly ‘think’ like Him, incorporating His attitudes into our own, even replacing ours with His, seeking to perceive and embrace His values as our own. Character has been defined as ‘the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual.’  I suggest our ‘mental and moral qualities’ are simply a combination of our attitudes which have arisen from our values.  We can certainly attempt to change our attitude when we recognize we are wrong about an issue, or a person, but entrenched, stubborn, wrong-headed ones need to be excavated and removed by replacing the faulty values with those held by Jesus.

If we were more honest with ourselves, we might agree that we often view ourself as a ‘decent’ sort of person, with relatively ‘honorable’ character, and not really needing much transformation of heart.  I suggest that this is a very regrettable delusion.  A careful study of the words, attitudes, and values of Jesus, revealed in the gospels, will show the disparity between His values and my own [and perhaps yours].  More clearly seeing His values and attitudes displayed in His words and behavior, will enable us to pursue, with the help of His Spirit within us, the goal of transformation from who we currently are into someone more like Him and living our lives accordingly.

Here are a few, though certainly not all, of His values found in the gospel story:

• He valued time alone with the Father including prayer [e.g.; Mk 6:46; Matt 14:1-13; Lk 5:16]
• He valued obeying the will of His Father even if resulting in His death [Jn 4:34, Lk 22:42]
• He valued sincerity, authenticity, and despised hypocrisy [Matt 23:13,15,23,25,27,28]
• He valued maintaining faith in God [Mk 9:23; 11:22; Jn 14:1]
• He valued truth-knowing it, believing it, and living by it. [Jn 1:17, 4:24, 8:32, 14:6,16-17; 18:37]
• He valued grace, mercy, generosity, and compassion-receiving it from God and showing it to others. [Jn 1:14-17; Jn 8:1-11; Lk 7:13; Matt 9:36, 15:32; Lk 6:38]
• He valued humility, knowing the destructive power of pride. [Lk 9:46-48; 22:24-27]
• He valued all people, regardless of ethnicity or economic status, including women and children, the disabled, and those who were mourning and suffering. [Lk 6:35; Jn 4:7-26; Mk 10:13-16; Jn 11:33-38]
• He valued, and therefore required of His followers, commitment to Him, the Father, and one another. [Lk 9:23-26; 14:27; Jn 15:12,17]
• He valued love, joy, and peace, urging His followers to find them in Him [Jn 14:1,27; 15:11, 16:33]

The apostle Paul says we can experience transformation by ‘renewing our mind’ i.e., our attitudes, and digging deeper, our values. [Romans 12:1-2].  Seeking to conform my values to those of Christ’s, will shape and mold my character closer to His far more than a mere shallow learning of His commandments,though of course I am not exempt from learning them.

‘What would Jesus do’ in the specific life circumstance I am facing? By becoming more like Him, and embracing His values, I will be more likely to know.

I cannot claim to be an apprentice of Jesus, a serious follower of Him, if I fail to increasingly embrace and live out His values. I wonder, how much progress have I really made?

How much have you?

‘Why do you call me Lord, Lord, but do not do what I say?’ -Luke 6:46

CJS