Values are principles or qualities intrinsically desirable, the guides by which we conduct our lives. Family values are the norms and practices by which we live in the smallest, most intimate community, and they largely determine how we act in neighborhood, school, city, state, and nation. Character is formed around them. The family is where we first learn, practice, and adopt the values we will live by, and when the family breaks down, society breaks down. Single-parent households, for example, are far more likely to be poor, and their children show higher rates of emotional and educational problems. Children reared in a traditional family, with father as breadwinner and mother nurturing the children, have a far better chance at success. Society agrees there should be cherished qualities; the dispute is over whose values to embrace. Clashing values split families through divorce, provoke violence in communities, and drive nations to war, after which the victor imposes its values on the loser. Immigration, rapid communication, war, and higher criticism's attack on the Bible, which weakened the churches, have produced moral confusion and no national consensus, much like Judges 21:25, when everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Public acceptance of immorality, such as adultery and homosexuality, springs from the world and its self-reinforcing cultural circles, despite evidence to the contrary. Conditions will worsen, as II Timothy 3:1-2 foretells, with men lovers of themselves and of money. Jesus Christ will return and establish God's government, imposing the values of the God Family authoritatively but not as a rigid dictatorship. God will permit no competing codes, as Zechariah 14 shows, and confusion will end, leaving mankind at one with the Creator and each other. Believers should pray daily for this restoration of God's family values.

American values have continued to deteriorate over the past decade and a half, and the common framing of a Left-versus-Right divide oversimplifies the problem. The whole Liberal-Conservative spectrum has steadily shifted leftward since the early twentieth century, so that what was radical in one generation becomes mainstream in the next. Comparing Kennedy and Reagan on taxes, or Nixon's resignation with Clinton's impeachment and survival, illustrates the drift. Left unchecked, values slide downhill. The root weakness is that they are no longer anchored to immovable principle, whether Scripture or even the founding principles of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Progressives treat the Constitution as a living, malleable document, while conservatives hold to its fixed original intent, yet the progressives are winning. Because the nation has untethered itself from biblical and constitutional values, members of God's church fit nowhere on the political spectrum. Their views do not even register on the chart, and they share few values, hopes, or goals with those around them. This reflects John 15:19, where Jesus says the world hates those He chose out of it. Believers are called to be set apart and kept by God's Word, the truth, which is the certain and authoritative bedrock of their values. Holding it firmly makes them different from their neighbors but guides and preserves them toward God's Kingdom, where their true citizenship lies.

Values are what the heart holds as important, and the heart, being the seat of a person's whole character, generates all conduct (Proverbs 4:23; Matthew 15:19). From earliest childhood, absorbed from family, community, and religion, everyone subconsciously assigns values to nearly everything, and the heart becomes committed to them and fights any change. Jeremiah calls it deceitful and incurably sick, and Romans 8:7 calls the carnal mind enmity against God. Such traditional values produce aimless conduct leading only to death and set aside God's commandments (1 Peter 1:18; Mark 7). Most value differences are only matters of taste, yet conflicting value systems cause all of man's problems, so harmony requires everyone to look to one source for the values that matter. That source is God's Word, which sanctifies, setting believers apart from others and unifying them around true values that bring freedom and life (John 17:17; 1 Peter 1:22-25). Conversion is therefore a change from values that produce death to God's eternal values, and it is hard because repenting means giving up what the heart prizes highly. The rich young ruler kept the letter of the law but valued his wealth above discipleship, so he could not part with it. Everyone is "rich" in something. Eternal life is life as God lives it, marked by sacrificial generosity toward others along with keeping the rules. Faith, which comes by hearing Christ's words, enables a person to consciously choose God's values over the heart's resistance (John 6).

Right and wrong cannot be measured by comparing ourselves with those around us; the only true standard is God's truth. A seventeen-year-old girl who excuses her drug use and casual sex with the refrain "I'm not bad, like the others" illustrates the danger: because she measures herself against her peers and has never killed anyone, she thinks she is a good person and has no idea how deep her sin goes. Proverbs 14:12 warns that there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is death, so values formed by human reasoning set no real standard. Paul says in Romans 2:1-3 that those who judge others for what they themselves practice are inexcusable and will face God's judgment, which is according to truth. In II Corinthians 10:12 he says that those who measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves among themselves are not wise. Such comparison gives a standard far below God's, brings self-justification, and produces no growth, just as an athlete who competes only against equals never rises to a higher level. Each person also has a different background and different areas God is developing, so no fair comparison is possible. Hidden faults and presumptuous sins are seen only as God reveals them through His Holy Spirit (Psalm 19:12-13). The carnal mind cannot please God (Romans 8:5-9). Those with the Spirit must therefore measure themselves by God's Word, praying as David did, "Search me, O God, and know my heart" (Psalm 139:23-24).

Christians must prioritize their values to ensure nothing comes between them and God. Loyalty to Christ is paramount, and any divided allegiance to other persons or things constitutes idolatry, shaping character contrary to the image of Christ. Obedience to God over men is a constant principle, as life's compulsions pressure us to choose between good and evil, often leading us into idolatry to satisfy desires for acceptance and security. The source of law and morality reveals the god of any system, and when human relativism replaces divine absolutes, society absorbs values that disregard God, leading to widespread immorality. Worship, involving intense admiration and devotion, must be directed solely to God, impacting every facet of life with fear, service, and obedience to Him as Creator. The values and system of morality determining right from wrong must change fundamentally to align with God's purpose, ensuring we emulate Him and not another, to be in His image and worthy of His Kingdom. Loyalty to the Creator, who continues His creative work in us, is essential to form holy, righteous character, and we must submit joyfully to Him who is worthy of all devotion.