A recent e-mail from an ex co-worker who had met my family contained praise for what he saw as our willingness to "live out our own values," though they be contrary to the path taken by the world around us. Funny how such an innocent and kindly-meant remark can hit the proverbial nail squarely on the head. 

I have not asked him for clarification on his remarks, but I assume they were directed at the size of my family, my wife's modest dress, the attempt to keep my children well behaved and all walking the same direction when we go out, and perhaps my own attempts at standing for a Biblical worldview in a workplace littered with secular, depressing outlooks. 

However, when I write him back, I wish to tell him that my family's values are anything but "our own," rather they are our sincere, yet always sinful attempts to conform to God's values. But I suspect his view is not uncommon - thinking that any lifestyle not conforming to the 'march to your own beat' lifestyle of the world must be some new form of individualism. 

The Scripture warns against calling that which is bad, good; and that which is good, bad. While my associate was trying to pay a complement, he inadvertently labeled our quest to live as God would have us as so much doing that which is good in our own eyes - meanwhile, thinking his own life as simply one of the average Joes out there. We cannot be, as it says in Acts, of "one accord" if we are too busy doing our own thing. As much as our American culture values leaders, the Holy Spirit calls after followers... 

So much of the world's problems snapped into focus upon receipt of a letter today, and probably, that was one exception among many instances, gone unnoticed, where truth became action. It's amazing what we can see when we look, and even more amazing how much we miss while doing our own thing.