Nathan Hayes is at a gas station trying to clean his windshield when his truck is stolen. Hayes runs after the truck, clinging to the side and fighting the crook through the open window. Hayes is thrown from the truck just before it crashes. The perpetrator escapes, and Hayes is in pain but struggled to get to his truck. Bystanders tell him not to worry about the vehicle but he opens the back door to reveal his infant son, crying in his car seat, apparently unharmed. The police also arrive and said to him ‘You know you could’ve lost your life.’ To which he replied ‘Yes, sir. But I couldn’t risk losing my son.’

Hierarchy of value

You can tell from the above scene in the movie “Courageous” that Nathan valued the life of his son more than his life or truck. What is your hierarchy of values in Christianity?

You sometimes never can tell what you can do until something or someone messes with what you value.

Valuable forever
God has a hierarchy of value in which you and I hold a higher place than the rest of the creation. We are created in His image and placed in a unique spot in creation. Consider this verse from the sermon on the Mount:

‘Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?’ Matthew 6:26.

Growing up in the South Western part of Nigeria in Africa was fun and filled with adventures. Some pleasurable but some left you wishing you could turn back the hands of time. The value I place on street credibility almost ended my life. But I was privileged to witness what I term concluding phase of the era of Evangelical movement. Though imperfect, we never ceased to celebrate what we know is valuable forever. We constantly, celebrated things of eternal value and the hope we have in eternal life in Christ Jesus. I really do not expect everybody to agree with me on this, but I think things

We seem to have shifted from celebrating that which is valuable for ever to celebrating that which makes us valuable before men.

There are wealthy Christians and Churches. I love to see Christians prosper and pray we all do. But it is amazing how that concept has taken center stage even above salvation which is of eternal value. It is even more astonishing how we now flaunt to non-Christians things which some of them have acquired above and beyond some Christians. How Do I know? Eight of the ten richest people on earth are non-Christians. (Source: http://www.forbes.com/billionaires/list/#tab:overall)

Things of eternal value are those that are eternal and are not transferable to eternity. One that stands out is our relationship with Jesus Christ. Our actions and efforts should always center on eternal value of who we are and how bad we want to spend eternity with an eternal God who placed eternal value on us above all creation. We need to celebrate wealth but above all celebrate hope of eternal life made possible by Jesus Christ.

Feature song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNXq5p5Voxw