"Values"

“Values”

 

When the late Tom Landry was coach of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys he is said to have made essentially the same speech at training camp at the beginning of each of his 29 seasons as the team’s leader. He made it clear that the top priorities in his life were, in order, God, his family, and the Cowboys. From the start his coaching staff and players knew where he stood and what his values were. And the evidence shows he did well in all three areas.

I was reminded of Landry’s essentials in life recently as I was reading about Isaac. In Genesis 26:25 it’s said of him, “Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of the Lord. There he pitched his tent and there his servants dug a well.” Coach Landry’s priorities, then, were the same as Isaac’s had been almost 4000 years previously: God (“Isaac built an altar….”), family (“…He pitched his tent….”), and business (“…His servants dug a well.”). Who knows how many in the intervening centuries have found their lives enriched by setting the same standards (or possibly failed because they didn’t)?

The Bible is full of illustrations of those who emphasized the things that really count, including Moses (“…Moses…chose to be mistreated…rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin….”—Hebrews 11:24-25), Joshua (‘…As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”—Joshua 24:15), and Jesus Himself (“…I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.”—John 5:30). Each was blessed and used by God because their lives were in proper order—in other words, they followed Jesus’ counsel in Matthew 6:33: “But seek first (God’s) kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” May we too be challenged to obey!

Many things clamor for our attention each day. Will we operate on the basis of “the squeaky wheel gets the grease” or on biblical values? Isaac and Coach Landry got it right—will we?

Blessings!

Jim McMillan