The greatest of these is love

Values. We have them as cultures, and we have them as families and individuals. Although values can be good, we have a tendency to make our values our goals. I have started to call these "pet values" or "pet principles." Pet values become priorities and are elevated higher than other important values, and we lose sight of the bigger picture.

Let me give you an example from my life. One of my values earlier in life was being punctual. Being punctual is good, but being on time for things became my goal. I remember finally being ready to leave the house for some kind of appointment and then my baby threw up all over herself and me when we were just ready to leave. This infuriated me! I had to start all over with finding something to wear and getting us both dressed again. No time to be gentle and patient with my child... "How could she do this to me!" Then when we were finally on our way, the speed-limits on the road didn't really matter because "I have to get there on time!" This simple example shows how values of even greater importance are disregarded when we have pet values.

We are prone to do this with scripture too. We have our pet verses that we adhere to, sometimes to the exclusion of the other principles that Jesus has called us to live by. When asked which of the commandments was the greatest, Jesus replied,

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."

Love God, love each other. All the commandments need to follow behind these two commandments. We can't try to live out a particular value without doing it in the context of loving God with everything within us, and loving our neighbour as our self.

We also pick certain attributes of God and highlight them to justify our point of view or beliefs.
People actually do this all the time. They say God is an angry God (period). God is a God of justice (period). That's not an accurate picture. God is LOVE. Every characteristic of God is in the context of God being a good, and loving God. He is PERFECT. We cannot "dissect" or "extract" characteristics of Him to fit our personal agenda.

I was reading 1 John 4 today.

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. Now one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

We love because he first loved us. (vs 7-19; italics mine)

Let's ask God to show us the "pets" we have. What are our pet values or principles that we've put above the greatest commandments of loving God and loving others? What distortions do we have of God that are influencing us to live in fear and a sense that we can't trust God?
Write them down. Ask God to give you a healthy perspective that lines up with who God truly is and who He has made us to be.

Being on time. Even today when I was posting, my daughter (the same one from my example but grown up now) phoned to have me meet her and the kids next door for lunch at my mom's. Although, I do have an ideal time by when I like to post on our blog, I was free to listen to what God had for me today rather than automatically saying I was busy. I chose to join them all. Yes... it was a good time. :)