Thoughts for Thursday by Emily Farmer

Values

What family values do you try to teach your children? For my husband and myself we try to teach honesty, love, and trust to name a few. The Bible talks about values and character in several different places. I recently ran across a few verses that I think spells it out very clearly and I thought it was worth sharing.

Here are the verses.....

Philippians 4:8-9 says "And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. 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. 9 Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you."

I once read that this verse was called the 4:8 Thinking verse. It's all the the things we should think about and fill our minds with. The more I read it the more I find it to be true.

In Colossians 3:12 we read "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience."

Now that is some good stuff to clothe yourself with don't you think? I want to be known to others as compassionate, kind, gentle and patient.

In Proverbs 4:20-26 we find "My child, pay attention to what I say. Listen carefully to my words. Don’t lose sight of them. Let them penetrate deep into your heart, for they bring life to those who find them, and healing to their whole body. Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. Avoid all perverse talk; stay away from corrupt speech. Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you. Mark out a straight path for your feet; stay on the safe path."

Now that's one packed verse on values. First we are told to pay attention and listen carefully. Then we are advised to hold those things we have heard in our hearts. Next we are to avoid corrupt speech or "trash talk", as I tell my boys. And last we are to look forward so we won't trip over our feet looking back.

I once heard Beth Moore say v. 24 "Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life." this way: It's my job to guard my heart. No one else will do it for you so you have to do it for yourself.
I have also heard these verses referred to in body parts.

Pay attention to your:
Heart-Values
Mouth-needs to be the values of your heart
Eyes- look away! Self discipline.
And lastly Feet-walk the narrow road.
When you break it down like that its easy to remember isn't it?

The last verse or chapter I want to share I have marked as Family Values. Those values are strong,love,unity and dwelling. I think you would agree these are all values we should teach our children as well as remember for ourselves.


It's from Ps. 133:1-3 "How wonderful and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony! For harmony is as precious as the anointing oil that was poured over Aaron’s head,that ran down his beard and onto the border of his robe. Harmony is as refreshing as the dew from Mount Hermon that falls on the mountains of Zion. And there the Lord has pronounced his blessing, even life everlasting."

Talk about you family values around the dinner table and discuss what's most important to your family.
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Thanks for sharing Emily. Those are definitley some good things to ponder!

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