When it comes to the whole question of what we really value in life Christians often clash with what people of the world value most. Not only that, but worldly people consider what Christians value most as foolish. I really like how the late pastor, Timothy Keller, contrasted these two very different value systems. According to Keller: “The world values power, comfort, success, and recognition. Jesus frees us to value grief, sacrifice, weakness, and exclusion.”1
Before I gave my heart to the Lord in 1981, power, comfort, success, and recognition were the things I pursued in life. The problem with these values, however, is that they never bring real joy and lasting meaning to one’s life. But praise God for Jesus. For you see when Christ comes into a person’s heart, He frees us to value a whole new set of values, that before we come to the Lord would seem very unattractive and quite frankly foolish. But, in Christ, Keller’s values of grief, sacrifice, weakness, and exclusion are actually the pathway to a life of deep joy, abundant peace, and rich meaning. Let’s look at each of these four values briefly:
Grief
We read in (Matthew 5:4): “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” In this passage another word for mourn is grieve and while on the surface we often think of being blessed as the absence of sorrow, not the presence of it, Jesus is sharing with us that in our times of grieving, we are closer to God than ever. In this verse, mourning here can refer to grief over either personal sin or the suffering of others. And when we mourn in both cases God will bring comfort to our hearts. In the case of grief over personal sin, Jesus will help restore us as we strive to confess and repent, bringing joy to our hearts. And when we grieve over the misfortunes of others it demonstrates we have a heart of compassion which mirrors the heart of God. And as we conform more and more to the heart of Christ, it should again bring joy to our hearts as we see us becoming more like the Lord.
Sacrifice
(Psalm 51:17) says: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” I love this verse because it shows me that when I am contrite, God sees my sincere heart and will restore my joy and bless me. Another way of viewing sacrifice is when we give of our time, our talents, and our treasury (finances) to help others. When we do this we get a joy in knowing that we are helping others get blessed. No wonder we read: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:35). For when you give you receive, not only the knowledge that you are helping others, but the approval of our heavenly Father! My friends sacrifice is the true pathway to real joy!
Weakness
The Apostle Paul, in (2 Corinthians 12:10) says: “That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” Imagine delighting in not only weakness, but in persecutions! Only a Christian, who has been given a new heart, can do this because not only does he get new strength by knowing that he is pleasing God, but he is also accruing a great reward in heaven, for we read: “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5:11-12). Only in Christ, is paradoxically weakness actually strength!
Exclusion
As a Christian we often will have to exclude ourselves from much of what society condones. For example, believers have no business in watching X-rated movies, women getting an abortion, laughing at lewd jokes, lying, and a host of other things that are normative in our society. But the more we exclude ourselves from these types of activities the more we will become more Christlike; and that is the greatest blessing one can ever experience in life. In fact, the more we exclude ourselves from worldly activities, the more we will draw nearer to our Savior – and what can be better than that!
The Christian life is indeed a life of paradoxes. For example, God doesn’t view success as the standard to value our contributions to His kingdom, but rather our faithfulness. And when we are faithful to our calling in Christ, get excited, because real joy, wonderful peace, and abundant meaning await us as we journey with the Lord!
1 Timothy Keller Quote: “The world values power, comfort, success, and recognition. Jesus frees us to value grief, sacrifice, weakness, and…”