Why we don’t keep our values?

It is not unusual to believe in God. It is not unusual to agree with God’s values. So why do we break them? Why do we lie and steal?  Why are we unfaithful in our friendships? The answer lies in our hearts. When we steal we do so because we want something without having to pay for it. We are thinking of ourselves. We lie to protect ourselves from getting into trouble or so that we can impress someone. Again we are thinking of ourselves. This means that selfishness is the supreme value that overrides every other value.

The problem with the world

We are the problem

What are some of the world’s problems? War, hunger, poverty, corruption are only just a few. But we contribute to such things because we are not prepared to give up our own comfort to help those in desperate need. We contribute to the pain and suffering in the world every time we are selfish.

So what can be done?

Selfishness is no small problem. It colours everything we do. Even when we do something nice for someone else it’s often because it makes us feel good, look good and earn gratitude. Selfishness is a heart problem and only God can do something about it.

God says in the Bible (Jeremiah 31:33-36)

³³ “… I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. ³⁴ No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

So God puts the law in our heart and forgives our selfishness. But that’s not all.

God says in the Bible (Ezekiel 36:24)

²⁵ “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. ²⁶ I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.”

God forgives our selfishness, he gives us a new heart which is not selfish and he gives us a new spirit that enables us to want to keep God’s values.

Jesus taught in the Bible (John 3:3)

³ Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Jesus teaches that you need to be spiritually reborn to enter into a relationship with God.