To uphold means to sustain or maintain something. Another definition is to hold up, to lift on high, to elevate, to keep erect, to and to support.
Upholding Christian values therefore means sustaining, keeping erect/straight, the values of Christ as laid down in scriptures.
Christian values refer to the guiding principles derived from the teachings of Christ and as taught in scriptures. These values are always the opposite of worldly values because they are based on the principles of godliness exemplified in scriptures that should be highly esteemed and strongly upheld because of their importance to living like Christ.
They involves living out the word in our everyday life and are taught throughout the Bible. They are also of most important to the Christian race.
While worldly values include amassing wealth, power, pleasure, revenge, fame, status, etc., Christian values teach humility instead of pride, forgiveness instead of revenge, self-control instead of self-indulgence, love instead of hate etc.
Christian values as taught in scriptures are the foundational truths for the Christian faith and most beneficial to the believers who pattern their lives after them.
They are not just avoiding evil through set of moral laws. Christian values are based on God and the work of Jesus Christ. The word of God is a clear guide for Christians to learn more on Christian values.
A believer must treasure the word and study it to be approved worthy unto God. The most important aspect of these values is when a believer prioritizes God above anything else and obey His word.
Core Christian values include: repentance from dead works, living by faith, living by grace, expressing love to people, even to those who do not deserve it, giving hope to the dying world, ensuring justice and peace as well as self-control and selfless service to God.
Furthermore, sustaining these principles in spite of the contrary value system of the world and the contradictions aimed at watering down the standard in the scripture, involves holding tenaciously to biblical values. God expects us to place Him above anything, anyone or any idea in life.
We are to love Him with all our heart, might, soul and mind (Luke 10:27).
Christian values are based on spiritual things not material things. Though spiritual in nature, the evidence of these values are clearly demonstrated in words and deeds.
We live in a dynamic world and it is so unfortunate that some present day Christians have been caught in this web of dynamism. However, God and His standard remains the same.
Just as God does not change, so also His standards and values. As such, we Christians must dare to uphold these standards. It is disheartening that, worldliness has influenced the values of some of us and the church has compromised Christian values to accommodate the world, hence the rightness of the statement that, “the church is becoming more worldly and the world is becoming more churchy”.
In a bid to increase membership of our congregations, church leaders have upturned basics scriptural truths to get the crowd the way they are. The church is presently exacting a lot of energy in organizing programmes that are full of entertainments but devoid of the power of God. and the world has also learnt the language of the church.
Hence, it is now so common to meet unbelievers who speak (christianese) the church language, in an attempt to confuse the unsuspecting and unguarded Christian.
It is not wrong for unbelievers to come to church the way they are, it is only wrong for them to remain in church and retain their ungodly nature without seeking true salvation in Christ and exhibiting the clear evidence of a new birth through bearing the fruit of The Holy Spirit.
It is for this same faith we currently hold with levity, that the heroes of Hebrew 11 were killed.
In our days so many have been killed, all because they refused to deny Christ. Upholding Christian values in the changing world entails standing for Christ in spite of all odds. The world has always been there with the pleasure and pressure it offers, yet Saints have passed through this world uncorrupted and uncompromising.
We must decide to sustain and defend these same, basic scriptural truths handed over to us. It involves being different from the crowd with determination not to defile ourselves. We must decide not to get carried away by this world. Decide to be the mouth piece, an instrument in the hands of God, and purpose in our heart to remain the same in God.
Other Core Christian values we must uphold include: honesty, integrity, respect for God, elders and other people, showing agape love, humility, to mention a few. These values are not inherent in man, that is, ‘No one is born with these values’. When we give our lives to Christ, which is the foundation of becoming a Christian, these values are taught and learnt from scriptures. The family unit is the first point of call where everyone must first learn then teach these values.
God bless you as you read and uphold these values.
Adeniyi
for Hotf
