Commitment to Core Values

Occasionally, I read a quote that makes me think. The following quote is from an article on Jim Collins book, “How The Mighty Church Falls.”

“Collins admits that when he started to study organizational decline, he expected to find complacency at the root of most trouble. But he found that he was wrong. Overreaching (in some ways the opposite of complacency) was the real issue.
Overreaching is the undisciplined pursuit of growth accompanied by the neglect of those core principles upon which an organization was originally built. It is about getting larger and larger, more and more expansive, even if it costs the organization its soul. (http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/communitylife/visiondirection/howamightychurchfalls.html?start=3 )

Today, my heart was broken by a friend’s “fall.” I had watched him struggle for years. There is one thing I never want to happen again, to get another phone call like that ever again.

I think that the organizational issue above is basically the same issue we have personally. We get enough of God’s blessing (a wife, a job, a ministry, etc…) and then we think we need more (a more passionate love, a bigger ministry, a better paying job, etc…). So, we walk away from the core values that God placed in our hearts to begin with…

We are called by God, given everything we need from God, burdened by the Spirit of God, passionate to please Him. In time, we walk away from what our core values were to pursue one more pretty trinket of this world. To quote Solomon (who pursued quite a few himself), “meaningless, it is all meaningless.”

Like a boat cutting through the water; when we die, we will leave a wake behind us. Will that wake be remembered as that of commitment to our true calling and core values, or will it be the damage done by selfish actions.

I still love my friend, but I want to make sure that no one ever gets that call about me. I want to be committed to my core values. To be fully sold out to following Jesus with all my heart.