Curious about the photo above? I considered offering a prize to whomever guessed correctly what’s in the picture above. Instead, because I’m cheap, I’ll just tell you. Cow gallstones! Sorry if you’re eating while reading this. Much more colorful than human gallstones, and a lot more valuable, these little gems can sell from $1,700 to $4,000 an ounce wholesale. China and Japan have long since used cow and ox gallstones to treat various diseases, including high fever, convulsion, stroke, obesity, and hypertension. Though this prized, hardened bile isn’t easy to come by. No one is standing by to catch them in the cow’s excretion. They’re found in the cow’s salvage when processed, and only about 1 out of every 500 to 1,000 cows have gallstones. It appears the cows fare better than humans where 5 to 10 people out of a 1,000 get gallstones.
Why share with you about these valued rust-colored nuggets? To get you thinking about what you value. I imagine most of us can rattle off a list of what we value the most. But I wonder if we can back up that list by how we spend our time and resources. What if I knew your list, and you knew mine, and then we followed each other around for a week? Would I question what you say you value? Would you question what I say I value? Of course, that’s unnecessary if we just look honestly at our own lives.
Years ago, our pastor told a story. Some stories just stick with you. While in seminary, his fiancé rarely got time to spend with him and felt neglected. Though he often told her how important and valued she was to him. One day, when once again he canceled their plans in order to study, she spoke up and said, “Well, we always make time for the things that matter most to us.” Some statements also just stick with you.
What about our resources? I’m sure you’ve heard many times if you follow your spending for several months, you also gather a good idea of what’s important to you. Just don’t do it at unordinary times, like remodeling or buying a house. HA! Or when you’re hit with large medical bills. Review typical months for an honest assessment.
I don’t think I need to spell this out to you. Often how we spend our time, something easy to observe along with tracking how we spend our money, shows what we value. Truth is both things with some acquired discipline we can resolve or change if we want to.
The question then becomes, how much do you value discipline? I find it impossible to prioritize what I value without being disciplined. And I wrestle with being self-disciplined. The Bible uses several terms to convey the term discipline. Both the Hebrew and Greek portray the ideas of discipline as correcting or training. Discipline is used to instruct or bring back a way that is right. As Christ followers, hopefully, we desire to pursue what is right and what Christ values. Discipline either our own or how God sometimes disciplines us helps us to value the greater things in this world.
Though how we spend our time and resources does not tell the total story of what we value. In fact, what we value runs much deeper in our lives. We need to go beyond the obvious.
What we value also pours out from our mouths and acts out in our behavior. Both give us an accurate account of what we say we value.
Let’s break that down. Our words are powerful. They become the first sign of how we value love and kindness towards others, including our own life. How we speak, our tone, our attitude, our humility, and our integrity say much about what we value.
How we act also reveals our values. Galatians 5:19-21 presents quite the list of what the world lives and values. Hopefully, your life points away from all those things. Instead, you’re focused on the fruit of the Spirit presented in the verses that follow, “Love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” Galatians 5:22-23. These are the riches we need to value above all others.
I confess, I’m struggling lately with how I am using my time. Maybe you are too with everything going on in your life. I find myself in this position when I’ve lost sight of what I value most or I’m lacking in self-discipline. However, I just might be too concerned about my time. At day’s end, what likely matters most to God is not how I spent the day, but how much did I live out the fruit of the Spirit in me?