You Know Your Values, Now What?

If you didn’t make a list of your values Tuesday, I challenge you to do it. 
 
If you did, now put them in order of importance. 
 
You will find that it is not easy to do, and in fact, in some cases it is impossible. 
 
For instance, my wife is important. 
 
Is she more important than my job?
 
Yes, but…
 
If every day I woke up and said, “since Cheri is more important than my job, I will skip work and hang out with her,” I would soon run out of money and not be able to feed this dear woman and our children. 
 
So what do I do about that? 
 
My friend, Tal Tsafany runs an incredible program called, My Happiness Team, where he coaches people to have a values-oriented life. Tal is not a Christian, but his views on this are wicked smart (by the way, don’t despise truth when you see it in the secular world). 
 
Tal divides values into 4 domains: 
 

1. Career
2. Health and Rejuvenation 
3. Relationships
4. Wealth 

 
None of these are unimportant, and it’s really hard to say which is more important. 
 
After God, I’d say these are a toss-up. As stated above, it’s hard to keep relationships (care for your family) if you don’t go to work. It’s also hard to do anything if you don’t take care of your health. 
 
You may be wondering, like I was, how wealth and career are different. Tal’s theory, which he’d be annoyed to know is biblical, is that everyone is called to something. But it may be that your calling is not something that currently pays the bills. 
 
Tal is a philosopher and head of a nonprofit. That is a career. But he owns real estate and a partner manages it. That’s his wealth. 
 
I imagine Paul did not feel called to be a tentmaker. That was his wealth generator (not that it made him rich, but that it supported his life). His calling to plant churches and write Scripture didn’t always pay, but that was his career. 
 
My career is pastoring and writing this newsletter. My wealth comes currently from helping others write. It was profound and clarifying to realize these were two different domains. 
 
So now: think about all the values you’ve written down and categorize them according to: 
 

1. Faith and Spirituality (sorry, Tal!) 

 

2. Health and Rejuvenation 

 

3. Career and calling 

 

4. Wealth 

 
They are all important. Later, you can think about how to organize your life around all these, but for now, just list them. 

 
You might be thinking that you only need to know what God wants, so you can just obey Him. This is true. But digging deep inside yourself to what you really want in these areas is a great place to start discerning His voice. After all, He lives in you! 
 
You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. - Romans 8:9 ESV