Do you ever stop to consider what you truly value in life? And more importantly, do you ever stop to consider what God values?

The things the world tells us to value, such as popularity, power, winning, materialism, and outward appearances, are not the things that God values. God is much more interested in the state of our hearts than the balance in our bank account or the title on our office door.

But things like winning and losing, poor or powerful, are issues that we confront each day. In Luke’s Gospel on the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time, Jesus tells us, “For behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.” The Lord’s priorities are very different from the world’s, and this verse shows us how Jesus feels about the consistency in which we lives our lives. The judgments of the world are not God’s judgments.

In a world where it’s all about “who you know” and success is viewed as being a leader, first in your class, at the top of the social pyramid, the Gospel turns this kind of thinking upside down.

What does the Gospel say?

The only condition God places on us and the way in which we will be viewed by God is determined by the quality of our hearts. The primary questions we can ask ourselves to evaluate how we are living are: “Do we live lives that conform to the invitation of Jesus to come and follow, the values found in his Gospel? Are we people of the compassion, forgiveness, understanding, hope, and love that are asked of us in following Christ?

”We do not need to worry about who saves, as someone asks in Luke’s Gospel. We know the answer is that God saves. Our primary concern and commitment is to be faithful followers of the one who saves, Jesus! We cannot find our identity in the empty things of the world. Our identity is instead found in him.

During these dwindling days of summer, I pray that you remain committed to following Jesus. We know that it is our devotion to him, rather than to material things, that saves us!