Change is not something most of us like, but it is necessary to align our values with Jesus’ values. This week on Life Palette we have been looking at the importance of values on your personal Life Palette. Get your values right and you pave the way for the rest of your life to be right. Get them wrong and you will ultimately tie the hands of God when it comes to painting your life as His masterpiece. Today we are going to look at 3 changes we need to make to align our values with the values of Jesus, which is making His Kingdom our primary concern.
Change #1: Exchange your priorities for Jesus’ priorities
Paul tells you to “think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.” (Colossians 3:2) In another scripture, Paul says to “fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” (Philippians 4:8) He is clarifying what life in Jesus looks like. Each of you will have different priorities in your life according to your personality, gifts, family, and daily responsibilities; yet there are several priorities of Christ that should be guarded and cultivated to allow God to continue to create your life as a masterpiece.
Change #2: Get His Perspective
“For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:3) When you die to self, you get a new perspective about all of life. Maybe you’ve heard stories of someone who had a near-death experience and they talk about how they see life differently now. When you choose to get your core value of your Life Palette to line up with what Jesus said, you will die to this life.
I can’t image anyone who understood this concept better than Lazarus, Christ’s dear friend and brother of Mary and Martha. His story is found in John 11. According to the witnesses in the New Testament, Lazarus died—and by the time Jesus arrived on the scene, the sisters had given him a funeral and he’d been in his grave for four days. Enough time has passed that when Jesus told them to remove the stone sealing the entrance to Lazarus’ grave, Martha protested, “Lord the smell will be terrible.” Then Jesus brought him back to life! Apparently, God was not done with His masterpiece named Lazarus.
Imagine how differently Lazarus looked at his life after being dead for four days. He surely understood what it was like to have died to this life and be hidden in Christ. Everything in his world would’ve been different. He was seeing things through a perspective that only a dead man could see. That’s the place of true masterpiece living potential!
Change #3: A New Attitude
Your overall attitude of life becomes like Jesus’ attitude. Paul said at the beginning of Colossians 3:4: “And when Christ, who is your life…” Notice he didn’t say when Christ gets a special compartment of your life. This line screams the primary core value of your Life Palette; “And when Christ, who is your life…” The primary attitude of your life changes as dramatically as a man who was dead for four days and was suddenly brought back to life! He was as you should be—a dead man walking; “for you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.”
Next Steps Towards Strong Values:
Take a few moments and consider the 3 changes needed to align your values with Jesus, then make a plan that you can live out today:
My One Priority regarding my values:
My Action Plan:
