“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.” - Jesus (Matthew 13:44)

What would be worth selling everything you own? What would you give away with great joy in order to gain something of higher value? Knowing what you value is important not only because it helps you answer the big questions in your life, but also because it helps determine what you do in everyday life and work.

Why Core Values Matter

Great organizations go to great lengths to set up core values to guide their organizations. Core values, when done correctly, not only guide the board and executive team, but they also guide employees on what to do in a variety of situations. Core values are especially helpful in unique scenarios where an employee may not know what to do. Jim Collins and Jerry Porras, in their classic article for Harvard Business Review, Building Your Company’s Vision, write that “Companies that enjoy enduring success have core values and a core purpose that remain fixed while their business strategies and practices endlessly adapt to a changing world.”

Collins and Porras define core values as “a small set of timeless guiding principles, core values require no external justification; they have intrinsic value and importance to those inside the organization.” They go on to explain how a leading technology company decided to leave out “quality” as a core value but included “innovation” because innovation could become more important than quality due to the speed of changing markets. They decided they would always want to do leading-edge innovation. Collins and Porras quote the executives saying, “That’s who we are. It’s really important to us and always will be. No matter what. And if our current markets don’t value it, we will find markets that do.” Collins and Porras point out that, “A company should not change its core values in response to market changes; rather, it should change markets, if necessary, to remain true to its core values.”

Here are five questions Collins and Porras say companies should be asking themselves as they work to define their core values:

• What would you tell your children are the core values that you hold at work and that you hope they will hold when they become working adults?
• If you awoke tomorrow morning with enough money to retire for the rest of your life, would you continue to live those core values?
• Can you envision your core values as being just as relevant 100 years from now as they are today?
• Would you want to hold those core values, even if at some point one or more of them became a competitive disadvantage?
• If you were to start a new organization tomorrow in a different line of work, what core values would you build into the new organization regardless of its industry?

Core Values Shape Your Life

Just as it is important for companies wanting to endure over time to spend time contemplating why they exist and what they value, we as individuals need to do the same.

The human soul lasts forever, and the way we impact others can affect their souls forever too. For that reason, it is vitally important for us to consider how our values guide our lives.

God’s word says “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). Our hearts and minds establish and guide what we value; so it is critical to dig deep and understand what we value now. If we don't, we risk being tossed by the wind (Ephesians 4:14), rather than being like a tree that is deeply rooted (Psalm 1 and Jeremiah 17:8).

God, His word, and our souls last forever. Therefore, we want to use His word to form our values.

Here are five verses to consider as you establish (or renew) your values:

• Consider what lasts: “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” - 2 Corinthians 4:18
• Do not consider what the world values: “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.”- 1 Corinthians 1:27
• Consider what God values: “People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” - 1 Samuel 16:7
• Consider the values that Jesus personified: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” - John 1:14
• Consider love above all else: “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” - 1 Corinthians 13:13

Friends, God is offering you a kingdom that lasts forever. Think and pray over the values that guide you so you will know real treasure when you find it!