Living a Value Based Life

2017-12-03

Summary Discussion of a values based life often brings up the “frog in boiling water” scenario: If you turn up the heat slowly on a frog in water, will it eventually boil to death? Is this truth or fiction? Well, according to science from 18th and 19th Centuries, if you gradually increase water temperature from cold to boiling over 2.5 hours, the frog will stay in the water and die. It won’t notice. However, according to modern common sense, it’s false. Do you really expect a frog to sit still for 2.5 hou...

Summary

Discussion of a values based life often brings up the “frog in boiling water” scenario: If you turn up the heat slowly on a frog in water, will it eventually boil to death? Is this truth or fiction?

Well, according to science from 18th and 19th Centuries, if you gradually increase water temperature from cold to boiling over 2.5 hours, the frog will stay in the water and die. It won’t notice.

However, according to modern common sense, it’s false. Do you really expect a frog to sit still for 2.5 hours? It doesn’t sit still for anyone!

However, as a metaphor, it’s a great example of why we shouldn’t get too comfortable. In Ephesians 4:17-24, Paul says that people can become callous over time because the culmination of negative attitudes can change them. They won’t even know it’s happening to them!

And that’s were values come in. Values are valuable for people because they provide a long-term way to center their life.

What are values?

The accepted norms or standards of an individual group can be considered values. A value system is a collection of principles and standards that form our norms and guide our decision making.

Our values (our norms) really come out of the Bible. That’s our manual for our value system and it’s something that stays with us through time.

Living a value based life means that you don’t live like a frog in warming water. You take the time to evaluate the origin of your values.

The origin of your value based life?

To break it down, you’re either getting your values from inside yourself or from some outside standard. A values based life can be either good or bad but it all comes down to asking the question if you’re pursuing a temporal life or a permanent life.

Are you?

Occasionally, it’s wise to evaluate your lifestyle and make a list. Consider your family, your society and your day to day choices.

What are they? Are they leading you to a lustful and prideful life or are they leading you to happiness and joy.

Be someone

If there’s no joy in your life, then it’s time to invest in those things that are permanent.