Lost Values

Lost Values

Have you lost your values?  This past Sunday we learned that when Israel disobeyed God it didn't take long for them to lose the values that once characterized who they were.  The first value to go was their identity--they were once know for being the "People of God", now they had disobeyed God to the point that there was no longer a distinction between them and the rest of the world.  I am afraid that is happening today in the church as well.  Yes, we do want to win the lost, and I understand that we must meet them where they are, but I also know they can't stay like they are.  Everyone sinner that Jesus encountered was changed if they were to become His follower. 

The second value to go was their Usefulness.  It follows logically that once you have lost your identity that it's only a matter of time, a very short time until you lose your usefulness.  How could one be useful in the Kingdom of God that is no longer identified with the Kingdom?  In other words, you have become like the salt that Jesus talked about that was supposed to be the "Salt of the Earth", but since it lost it's usefulness was good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under the foot of men.  We were called to be the "Light of the World", but when we've lost our usefulness we become nothing more than a dim flashlight.  It is good for nothing until the old batteries are taken out and thrown away and new ones put in.       

The third value to go was her Strength; Israel could no longer stand before her enemies.  Having lost her identity and her usefulness she now has no strength to fight anymore.  She is like Samson who was once the strongest man of the Bible, but while flirting with sin he went to far, he could no longer stand on his convictions.  He didn't have the power to resist evil any longer.

The fourth and final value was her Spiritual Sensitivity; she didn't even know or realize that she was backslid.  Remember Samson?  For three times Delilah bound him securely, or at least she thought she had.  But the moment she said: "The Philistines are upon thee" he would break the ropes like flax.  However, the last time when he finally gave in and told her the source of his strength while he lay sleeping in her lap.  Then she said: "Samson, the Philistines are upon thee".  He got up and went outside and shook himself as he had done before, but he didn't even realize that the Spirit of God had left him, and he had no strength to fight anymore.  The Philistines gouged out his eyes and took him to prison.   

Have you lost your values~?

Mike Sanes