David Crosby - The Values of Jesus: Aligning Your Life with His Teachings

Other New Hope Books by David Crosby

Your Pain Is Changing You: Discover the Power of a Godly Response

The Care Effect: Unleashing the Power of Compassion

New Hope Publishers

100 Missionary Ridge

Birmingham, AL 35242

NewHopePublishers.com

An imprint of Iron Stream Media

IronStreamMedia.com

2020 by David Crosby

All rights reserved. First printing 2020.

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwisewithout the prior written permission of the publisher.

Iron Stream Media serves its authors as they express their views, which may not express the views of the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Crosby, David, 1953- author.

Title: The values of Jesus : aligning your life with his teachings /
David Crosby.

Description: Birmingham, Alabama : New Hope Publishers, an imprint of Iron
Stream Media, 2020.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020020133 (print) | LCCN 2020020134 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781563092770 | ISBN 9781563092787 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Jesus Christ--Teachings.

Classification: LCC BS2415 .C76 2020 (print) | LCC BS2415 (ebook) |
DDC 241--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020020133

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020020134

All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

Scripture quotations marked (KJV) are taken from The Holy Bible, King James Version.

Scripture quotations marked (NKJV) are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (NASB) are taken from the New American Standard Bible, Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

ISBN-13: 978-1-56309-277-0

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-56309-278-7

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For Janet, the woman of my dreams and the love of my life

Contents

Acknowledgments

My daughter, Rachel Crosby Daughtry, helped me identify and compile messages I had delivered on the values of Jesus. She also helped me integrate them appropriately into the book format. She was my first reader, always enthusiastic, and offered many helpful suggestions.

Not Dancing with Michelle

Iam hanging by elbows and knees from the padded bars of an indoor gymnastic set, suspended just a few feet above the stage floor of an elementary school auditorium.

Snaggle-toothed and cherub-cheeked, I am the darling of a third grader named Michelle, who must be French, judging by her name. She was always my catch when we played ponies in the snow, chasing the girls along paths we created by scraping away the most recent snowfall on the playground.

Michelle, whose curly auburn tresses always bounced around her furry parka hood, is now swinging through the steps of a square-dance routine. The members of my third-grade class are learning to square danceall except me. I am watching from my perch on the gym set, contemplating the implications of being a Christian who does not dance.

The moral courage for this stand is not really mine. My parents were convinced dancing was sinful. They sent a note to school instructing the teacher to excuse me from the square-dance exercise.

I do not remember regretting this decision of my parents. I do not recall any desire to be dancing with Michelle instead of lounging around on the stage.

I do not think I was angry, but I was embarrassed and self-conscious. My ethics were those of my parents, and their convictions, mine. The evil of what was happening before me as the other children danced was not immediately apparent, but I was sure it was there. I had no rationale for this stance other than our faith in Christ.

I felt isolated, but that was as it should be. I was a Christian, not an ordinary person. I assumed as a boy that all Christians felt about dancing and drinking and movies just like my parents felt.

Alone on the stage, I was learning the power and pain of conviction.

Mentally and emotionally, though, I was not truly alone. I was surrounded by my family and the faith we shared.

Of course Jesus Himself was there with me on that gym set. Even in third grade I knew Jesus was the center of our social, mental, and even physical world. I knew we were seeking to adjust our lives to the values of Jesusaligning our lives with His teachings.

As I hung from the bars in the gym as a boy, I did not contemplate the character-building qualities of denying cultural pressures to maintain Christian distinctiveness. An exercise in drawing the line and refusing to compromise imparts to one a sense of genuine independence from peer pressure. This event and others similar to it were certainly part of my own pilgrimage in learning the lordship of Jesus Christ. Peers, social pressures, and cultural values were relegated early on to secondary status.

My father was intentional and deliberate in his explanations for our behaviors. He taught us consistently to behave in a way that would honor Christ our Lord. We expected to be different in how we thought and acted.

Dad abandoned dancing when he trusted Christ as Savior, I learned from my mother. He associated it with his past life of youthful waywardness. Her explanation helped me understand this ethical stance that I never really embraced myself.

The call to stand alone must pierce through layers of programming, good and bad, and it must come with a deep sense of conviction and purpose. Even in third grade I knew it was Jesus Christ who made the difference in my life and in our family.

Jesus taught that we are in the world but not of the world. He also instructed us to love one another, and He prayed that we would be one. The love and oneness of the family of God is a significant source of courage for the member who must stand alone at school or work.