Looking at how God designed us human beings, we can clearly see His wisdom in creating us to be creatures of value. It is in this that we see what He values and how much He values us: He came down as man to become the ransom for all mankind.

It was Albert Einstein who once said, "Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value." Values are a set of beliefs, priorities or views that we find most important in our lives, thus affecting the way we act and make decisions.

A person who values relationships over anything will act differently compared to a person who values money and material things more than relationships. We are wired to act and react based on our values.

Values make things clear

In Matthew 6:21 (NLT), Jesus spoke of values saying, "Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be." Our values are primarily a heart issue. What we desire most is what we value most and the way we are programmed is to value a certain set of things and then operate on those principles.

No one wakes up one day totally undecided about what they are to do and who they are to be. Our actions and identity are pretty much intertwined with the values that we have, and unless those values are clear to us, we cannot truly maximize the way we think and act.

God looks at the heart

The primary reason why God made us to act and react based on values is because God is most involved with the matters of the heart. Although our actions are reflective of what the contents of our hearts truly are, it's easy to mask the heart's desires with pretentious actions.

But God looks into our hearts and He knows what our desires are. In His goodness and justice, He also exposes them both to ourselves and to others around us. That's why God said in 1 Samuel 16:7, "People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

So what does God want us to value most? We see in 1 Peter 3:15, Paul commands us, "... but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy." God wishes that He be the sole desire that drives us in our everyday living. Though He does not force it upon us, He makes it very clear to us how He deserves the primary seat in our hearts.

What does God value?

How does God do that? By showing us what He values most -- us. John 3:16 tells us, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

God so valued us that He made us who were of little to no intrinsic value to Him valuable by exchanging His value for ours.