Discovering the Heart

My Principles of Living

I was just working through with a great friend tonight what we saw in each other and what we would like people to see in us, which brought my memory to an essay I did for YITS in 2004.

Introduction

This essay calls for me to discuss my core principles which I base my life on. After thinking about it for a while I looked back and tried to remember different events and how I approached them. From this I concluded that my five core principles are: Integrity, Compassion, Family, Passion and Service.

Integrity

I have always considered myself to be a genuine and upright person and this reflects some of the attributes of Integrity. A person with integrity is someone who is dedicated to a strict moral or ethical code. This is an ideal principle for everyone, but I especially feel passionate about how others see me, knowing that they can rely and trust in me.

The bible gives us a number of examples of people of integrity, like David (Ps 78:72 & 1 Kings 9:4). What I find pleasing to know is that they were not perfect; there was only one perfect person who walked this earth - Jesus!

Compassion

Over the last couple of years more and more people have been coming to me with their problems and issues. This originally made me feel a bit awkward, but I found it strengthened both me and the person in question. Also for these people to come to me, someone they might not know in some cases, they must recognise that I might be able to help them in some way. So I do not go out and seek other people's sufferings but when I am able to assist someone in a time of trouble I find it my mission to be able to relieve these people.

Today I find that people feel pity for others but just think that there is nothing they can do. However people need to realise that one of the best things you can do to help a person is to listen (Ex 22:27).

Family

Something else people today lack is family or a sense of family. Too many children do not have both parents at home and even if they do a great number of them still do not have good relationships. This is one reason why I value my family so much, my parents are here to guide and build me up and my siblings are good friends, so how can I not value them?

Also God intended for us to be in families and communities. In the story of creation, the torah (the law), the word family appears almost more than anywhere else in the bible, and this is where the basis of humanity is as the Lord God planned it.

Passion

People often tell me, "Gee Anthony you really have a passion for music", or whatever it might be, and I would have to agree with them. When there is something good or something that I have a real desire for I will put a lot of effort into it. At the moment this course that I’m doing would be a very good example of that; although it might not look like it, I am really trying to get as much as I can out of this course.

I also find that through my passion for things that I am able to influence others, either to work harder or just to get some things moving through their heads, and this is also shown in the Bible (2 Cor 8:17 & 2 Cor 9:2). Also I feel life is improved when things are done with passion - it is done faster, to a better standard and with a positive outlook.

An example of this from the Old Testament is Nehemiah 3: whose section of wall was completed faster and to a higher standard?

Service

For me service is the big one. It really gives me pleasure to be able to help someone, to see their reactions, especially if it is unexpected. Also by serving someone it shows your love and kindness for the person (Gen 29:20).

I like to be able to live my life as much as possible like Jesus did (Mt 20:28, Mk 10:45), and this is something that all Christians should strive to do. I wear a key chain with WWJD; this reminds me that Jesus gave us the best example of servant hood.

Conclusion

After having some ideas of what my principles were I went and asked my parents as this was a way for me to see if I displayed the principles I thought I valued. I was happy to find that both my parents had very similar opinions to each other and myself. I've found this whole task to be very enlightening and it has caused me to really look at the way I live my life

posted by Cozmos @ 1:11 AM