A Look at Your Values

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A Look at Your Values - TEACHING NOTES

REMEMBER: This is not a test. The goal is to understand your values, not to determine a "right" or "wrong" answer. Your answers do not need to agree with everyone else's answers.

Once you know what your values are (in any area of life), then you can decide if you need to change them. (Often trying to discover what your values are is the biggest obstacle to changing them!)

Note: In the second section, you are to decide how much you would be willing to give for something. Don't be surprised, if for some of the items listed, you aren't willing to give anything!

A Look at Your Values

For each of the following pairs of objects or concepts, circle the one you value the most. If you value them both equally, circle the "equal" sign. (To help you decide, you may wish to ask yourself which you would choose, if you were only able to choose one of them. Or, which would you be willing to give-up in exchange for the other.)

Stick of gum	=	Paperclip
Mound of garbage	=	Tub of ice cream
Coffee pot	=	Peach pie
Tomato	=	Zucchini
Toothpick	=	Pencil
$10 in U.S. currency	=	1823 silver dollar
Nice lawn	=	Vegetable garden
College degree	=	A million dollars
Dripping faucet	=	Loud neighbors
A day at an amusement park	=	A job interview
Health and poverty	=	Sickness and wealth
87-room mansion	=	Small cottage
Bible	=	Video game
Lunch	=	Prayer
Everything the world offers you	=	The kingdom of God, along with persecution
Sharing a friend's painful experiences	=	Not having a friend
Dying for someone else	=	Letting them die

Matthew 13:44-46

"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it."

How much do you value the Kingdom of God (kingdom of heaven)? What would you be willing to give for it?

For each of the following, what is the most you would be willing to give for it? (This "giving" does not need to be limited to just money, but can include anything that you might be willing to give or "sacrifice," in order to obtain the thing listed.)

1. Stick of gum

2. Plate of chopped liver

3. Piano lessons

4. Job promotion

5. Hit in the face by a baseball

6. A day at an amusement park

7. Becoming the president of the U.S.

8. The ability to restore a dying friend to health

9. A happy family

10. The opportunity to follow Jesus

Matthew 16:24-25

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it."

Following Jesus involves learning from him (as recorded the Bible), accepting what he says, and following his example. Jesus' followers (also called "disciples," in the New Testament) desire to live the way Jesus would, if he were living in their circumstances.

That's the reason for the acronym that some people use, "W.W.J.D." - which means, "What would Jesus do?"
Those who follow Jesus now will be given the opportunity to do so forever. (Those who don't want to follow him now, won't be given the opportunity to do so later.)
If you want to know more about what it means to follow Jesus, you could begin by reading the New Testament book of Matthew.

What will it cost you, if you choose to follow Jesus? What do you gain in return? For more about this, look at Matthew 10:32-39 and Mark 10:29-30.

How much do you value following Jesus? What are you willing to give, for the opportunity to do so?

Dennis Hinks © 2004
Scripture quoted from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
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