ValueS
By Charles B. Hodge, Jr.
Man has always had problems with values:
For one bite of something (we know not what nor how it tasted), Mother Eve sold her soul to sin and the devil. Since then the entire history of man is personified by Esau, “who sold his birthright for a mess of pottage.”
One man said: “We are so busy with the immediate and the urgent we never have time for the important. (Reread this statement). The immediate, the urgent, and the important.
We build houses but not homes. We build reputations but not characters. We give our children everything in the world but ourselves. We know Shakespeare but not Jesus. We have all kinds of educational degrees but little human understanding. We work for just a piece of this whole world at the price of our soul.
What is important? A new house, car, vacation trip, clothes, status, popularity, approval, things? Have they made you happy, or made you wish for more? A mountain climber, in his haste to climb to the peak, never took time to view the scenery. How sad, but true.
What is important? Do you spend time with your mate? With your children? Do you have friends — real friends with whom you visit? Do you possess things or do things possess you? Do you enjoy and love God’s earth? Are your children faithful Christians — deeply interested in the church — and others? Do you count your blessings and thank God? Are you happy? Are you satisfied with your choice of values? What is your life? Is the important the price of the immediate and urgent?
From the book
Writing Out Loud
Country Philosophy