The Values-Driven Heart: Weighing In On What Really Matters

By Joey Bonifacio

What drives you?

Our world is plunged into a battle of values. Any brewing dispute or issue that calls us to take a stand boils down to a battle of values.

On a personal level, every moment finds us in the same battle. Which of those that demand of my time, resources, and heart will I give myself to? How much of myself will I give?

How do we decide? What is our ultimate value against which we measure all others? With a watching world all waiting to find out what we are all about, are we clear on what we value?

In The Values - Driven Heart: Weighing In On What Really Matters, Pastor Joey Bonifacio guides us on a journey to help us clarify what values operate in our lives—and which are worth pursuing. Each chapter is filled with insight and compels us to process what we are all about.

As we decide on what we value, we decide how to impact our world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: CSM Publishing
• Release date: Nov 6, 2019
• ISBN: 9789813170605

Book preview

Introduction

I was probably five years old when the feeling of envy first hit me.

It was Christmas time. My seven-year-old brother had opened his gift and it captured my imagination. It was the robot of my dreams. Attached to it was a red wire with a box that served as its remote control. The box had two buttons that moved the robot forward and backward. The very idea that this gift could be controlled to move and walk in certain ways was more than enough to make my five-year-old heart beat a little faster. I could visualize myself with that robot, battling our enemies, whoever they may be—but especially our next-door neighbors, who bullied us on occasion.

On the other hand, I received a toy police car with blinking red lights and a siren. It paled in comparison to that walking robot and its mechanical grunts that captured my wide-eyed fascination. In my eyes, I received a mere child’s toy, while he got a cutting-edge, scientific marvel—a walking, grunting robot!

I laugh now at that memory and my childish response. Those toys have long disappeared, but it’s interesting how robot envy can still exist.

New Robot, Same Envy

Now that I’m older, I realize that people naturally outgrow childhood interests. But heart issues such as envy—that feeling of discontent and resentment that is aroused by what others have—are harder to get rid of.

Through the years, I have sometimes found myself comparing my so-called robots of accomplishment with that of others. As a young entrepreneur running my company, my life was a frenzy of chasing after robots that I never really needed: this time not the toy version, but more about power, success, and possessions.

The Bible says, Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life (Prov. 4:23 nlt).

As I grew older and became a follower of Christ, He began to overhaul my heart and started digging out and showing me what was valuable and what was not.

This book, The Values-Driven Heart, is about my journey of learning life’s truest values. It comes from a compilation of blog posts from my site, joeybonifacio.com, that I’d like to share with you.

I can’t say that envy has completely been eliminated from my life, but these lessons have guided me well to keep it well under control. I write this book with the hope and prayer that it will inspire you, too.

The Values-Driven Heart

Next to the Bible, Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life stands as the best-selling Christian book of all time. Clearly, it resonated with a lot of people—and rightfully so. Rick’s point was crisp and clear: if we are to gain traction in life, it boils down to living life with a purpose.

There is, however, another impetus that drives the way we live our lives: values. Values are that which we treasure. Jesus Himself points out that it is our values—our treasures—which ultimately direct our hearts.

Jesus on Values

"... Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Mt. 6:21).

Jesus points out that we are wired on the inside based on values. We knowingly or unknowingly reveal what we value in our day-to-day decisions.

Let me give you a few simple examples: kids have a hard time waking up in the morning for school, but wake up ahead of their parents for the premiere of Star Wars. A woman scrimps on the cost of dishwashing liquid, but splurges on her favorite brand of lipstick. A man remembers the schedules of his favorite sporting events but forgets his own wedding anniversary.

Values are the reason why we have the time and energy for certain things and not for others. In short, 100% of the decisions we make, knowingly or unknowingly, are always based on what we value.

Time and Treasure

But this is more than just a trivial discussion on values, for Jesus explains its importance when He said:

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where