I often hear pastors say, “I can’t get anyone in my church to serve.” “I can’t get anyone to give or invite their friends or get in a group, or ____________.”

Or someone will say, “I can’t my spouse to do ________.”

The reality is that what we believe and what is important drives how we live.

Our values determine everything in our lives.

If we don’t give and live generous lives, it means we don’t believe the gospel is generous and we don’t understand how our response is to be thankful and be generous to others as God has been generous with us.

We can say all day that we value generosity, but our actions show that we value stuff, greed or stinginess.

If we don’t use our gifts, it is because we don’t believe the way God has wired us is important or that we will be held accountable for those gifts.

We can say that we value seeing our life used for God’s glory or that we value giving of our selves, but our actions tell something different.

If we don’t share the gospel with those we know and love who don’t know Jesus, we are saying the gospel isn’t that great. We are also saying that we don’t believe the Holy Spirit lives in us and can work in our lives.

When we don’t let people into our lives in relationships, we care more about what others believe about us and less about what God thinks of us.

What we believe, what we value drives our commitment to things.

Every time.

To change a person, you must change their values.

To change your marriage, you must change your values.

To change an organization or church, you must change their values.