Tag: Prioritizing Jesus with your time

Do You Really Value Jesus?

Vertical Christianity

Ep. 3: “How To Develop A Vertical Life Plan” – Part 2 – “Values”

May 3, 2025 – Dr. David P. Craig, Founder, Vertical Living Ministries 

Today we are going to focus on Step Three of developing a written Vertical Life Plan. We have already looked at developing your mission or purpose statement in Step One. Step two was writing down Scriptures and quotes that inspire and motivate you to intentionally put your purpose statement or mission statement into action. Now we come to developing our specific plan of attack. Step Three is articulating your values and prioritizing them. 

Let’s define what the word value means. Webster’s dictionary helps us with a few key definitions of the word value: (1) The regard that something is held to deserve; the importance, worth, or usefulness of something. Example: “I value you for helping me wash the dishes.” (2) The material or monetary worth of something. Example: “Cars seldom rise in value once you drive them off the lot.” (3) The the worth of something compared to the price paid or asked for it. Example: “At $5.99 the book is a good value.” (4) Values are a person’s principles or standards of behavior; one’s judgment of what is important in life. Example: “I value the ethics taught by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount and seek to live by them.”

Where the rubber meets the road with the idea of what we value is whether or not we walk the talk. If we say we value something it should translate into what we think about, how we spend our time, money, habits, and skills.

I golf once a week. Over the past thirty years I’ve played hundreds of rounds of golf. I’ve played with really bad golfers and really good ones. What’s the difference between a bad golfer and a good golfer. Honestly, it comes down to how much worth or value the golfer places on his golf game. Some golfers take it very seriously, some golfers are just out there to get out of the office and have a good time, and some golfers are like me – want to play well – have worked on their game somewhat – but thank God we don’t have to make a living and support our families playing golf!

If you really value golf and want to be a good golfer – it means you have to spend time, money, and effort in intentionally developing and honing your mind and skills. Professional golfers have logged thousands of hours of practice on the range and playing in tournaments. They spend  a fortune on the best equipment, coaches, caddies,  nutritionists, and even therapists to help them with their golf game. You not only have to practice a lot, but you have to practice intentionally and correctly. Anyone can spend hours on the driving range hitting balls ad infinitum. But if you are topping one shot, slicing the next shot, chunking the following shot and so forth you may be spending a lot of time practicing – but not time well spent. Practice doesn’t make perfect but as the saying goes, “perfect practice makes perfect.” If you really value becoming a good golfer you have to practice putting, or chipping, or with your driver until you have a consistent outcome. This involves the mind, course management, having the right grip, knowing how far you hit with each club, good swing mechanics, and a host of other skills that must be sharpened in order to play good golf consistently.

I realized a long time ago that if I really wanted to be a great golfer I needed to dedicate myself to the sport by spending lots of time and money. I don’t have the money or the time at this point in my life. And that’s probably a good thing – because I’d probably be spending more time on something that – since it’s not supporting my family and paying the bills – isn’t going to matter at all in eternity whether I shoot a 68 or an 88 in a round of golf. And other than me, nobody really cares about my score.

Getting back to values. If my vision is Jesus and to be like Him – how do you get to know someone and be like them? You have to spend time with them. If I say I value Jesus above everything else in life – the proof of that is going to be in how much time I spend with Him. But also, just like in golf – it’s not how much time I spend with Him that matters its about whether or not I’m spending quality time with Him. Am I really getting to know Him and am I really becoming more like Him?

Now we come to our great Vision – Jesus, and what we value most – knowing Him and becoming more like Him as a result: Step Three in your Vertical Life Plan:

VALUE 1: MY RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS

KEY VERSE: For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.To Him be the glory forever. – Romans 11:36 

VALUE EXPRESSED: My top priority in life is to know and proclaim Christ above all other things. I will value the Father for making me (Psalm 139:14-15), designing a plan for my life (Jeremiah 29:11; Proverbs 3:5-6; Ephesians 2:10), and for His continual sustenance of my being (Acts 17:28). I will value Jesus for purchasing my life with His precious blood (1 John 1:7; 1 Peter 3:18), His perfect human example in holy living (Hebrews 4:15) and for praying for me (Hebrews 7:25) until He fulfills His promise to take me home (John 14:1-4). I value the Holy Spirit for convicting me of my sin (John 16:8), regenerating that which was spiritually dead (Titus 3:5) and making me alive for the purposes of proclaiming and reflecting the glory of the Triune God in all of life (Ephesians 1:13-14).

VALUE TURNED INTO ACTION: (A Value that is inactive – is useless)

  1. Daily Transformation Time – Bible & Devotional reading, Journaling, and Prayer @ 5:00 a.m. every day. My primary goal is not primarily information gathering, but to grow in my relationship with God and others. The bible isn’t so much for the information it contains, but for the transformation of my brain and heart! Aside from Genesis, I am spending a lot of time in Isaiah, the Gospel of John, and Romans this year (I will be preaching from Romans and then Isaiah when I finish Genesis).
  • “Scripture is not man-centered as though salvation were the main theme, but it is God-centered because His glory is the center…The Bible teaches that salvation is not an end in itself but is rather a means to the end of glorifying God.” ~ Charles Ryrie
  1. Questions for Daily Self-Evaluation and Reflection: 
  1. Throughout the day: Am I becoming more loving and Christ-like? ((1 Corinthians 13:8, “Love never fails”)”;
  2. Throughout the day: Does God see His reflection of Himself in my life? (Galatians 5:22-23, The fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control);
  3. Tonight: God, did you see Yourself in me today?;
  4. Tomorrow Morning: God would, you allow me today to so live my life that you might see Yourself and thus be glorified in me?
  • “There is no way forward unless we are willing to be displeasing to ourselves. . . . In other words, we will not change unless we are dissatisfied with who we are. If we are not willing to examine ourselves, be honest, and admit our shortcomings even when it hurts, we will never be who God calls us to be.” ~ Mason King

As I have been writing out these Vertical Life Plans for the past twenty plus years – all my values – which are based on what Jesus values – have become what I treasure most. My priorities are more in line with God’s will as I’m in His Word and intentionally applying it daily. Tim Keller says, “The idols of our hearts cannot be removed; they can only be replaced. Idolatry happens when we turn good things into ultimate things…If you uproot an idol in your life and fail to plant the love of Christ in its place, the idol will grow back.” If my thinking is consumed with what God values and I treasure Jesus more than anything else – idols tend to fade away.

Paul’s words in Galatians 5:16, But I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh, can take greater root in our minds and hearts when we create more space for Jesus to reign and rule in our lives. I know for you and me, the reality is our good intentions mean nothing without a vision of Christ at the center of all things, and a plan for Him to be the one main thing in our lives – we truly only value what we think about, spend our time on, spend our money on and invest in wholeheartedly. I hope you will implement in your own life what has helped me and hundreds of others – a Vertical Life Plan where you live out your calling and spend all of your God-given resources for Him, through Him, and to Him for His glory! 

Your plan doesn’t have to be like my plan – I’ve been doing this for years. But I would encourage you to carve out some time daily to be in the Word, understand what you read; apply at least one thing and spend time in prayer with your Heavenly Father. I urge you to be more intentional – and the reality is – WE DO WHAT WE SCHEDULE – And writing our plans in our calendars is a great place to start. Until next time – enjoy your time with Jesus as you spend your days treasuring Him above all things.

Vertical Christianity

“How To Develop A Vertical Life Plan” – Part 1

April 26, 2025 – Dr. David P. Craig, Founder, Vertical Living Ministries 

I want to share with you about why its beneficial to have a written plan for your life. More specifically, why it’s important to develop what I call a Vertical Life Plan.

Let me ask you an extremely important question. Do you believe that the Bible is about you or Jesus? If you think it’s about you – the Bible actually says the opposite. In Luke 24 Jesus appears to His disciples and repeats twice to them that everything in the Scriptures is about Him and points to Him. 

An illustration I like to use in regard to this is that I like to see every aspect of thinking in terms of a triangle. I may have two views of something and if I have trouble deciding I simply ask which choice follows the teachings and modeling of Jesus. What leads to the central focal point at the pinnacle of the top of the triangle. Is the leaning of one side or the other going away from the central vertical point?

Another illustration I like to think about is having a vision of something that drives my thinking, and plan of attack for being productive in living for that which will last for eternity. In it is the idea that is conveyed by the biblical prophets Moses, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and the apostle Paul in the New Testament. They all encountered Theophanies or Christophanies – visual manifestations of God in Christ. 

In my favorite book aside from the Bible, but based on the Bible – The Holiness of God, by R.C. Sproul – the author delves into the vision that Isaiah had of the pre incarnate Christ in Isaiah 6. Isaiah finds himself in a huge crises – the King of the nation for the past 52 years has died and he goes to the temple to grieve. According to the apostle John in the NT his vision is of Jesus. Moses, Ezekiel, and Paul also experience similar visions of God’s glory. When they have these visions of Jesus it radically changes their lives. They all write about their experiences with the glory of God and then they go on to live productive and effective lives by knowing God and applying the scriptures to their lives.

I have been writing out what I call Vertical Life Plans every year for the past 26 years. Its sort of like the Captain of a ship having a map and compass in the wide open sea. How in the world can he know where he is and where he is going without these tools? How can he measure his progress if he doesn’t know where he is on the map or where he is going. Unfortunately, this is the way most people live. And, metaphorically they make little progress, because they don’t even know where they are, or where they are going.

A Vertical life plan is an intentional written strategy where you map out in writing: why I’m here – this answers the question of meaning; what is most important in life – what I call your Vertical vision – making Jesus the central and highest priority in your life; you ask the question what does Jesus value and do I value what He values; and then how can I implement what He values in my own life? How can I practically spend my time in ways that eliminate the weeds and waste of my time so that I maximize living for that which prioritizes what Jesus prioritized and implement those values in my own life? Today we are going to just look at the first two steps in developing your Vertical Life Plan.

Step One: In one to three sentences (a short paragraph) write out your life calling. Answer this question: What is your personal mission that you would like to accomplish with your life before you die?

Example: David P. Craig’s Calling: “My purpose in life is to passionately pursue a relationship with God through a deep study of His Word and in the process be transformed by the Holy Spirit so that I bear the image of Jesus and thus glorify Him by reflecting Him to my wife, family, church, and community, thus bearing the fruit for which I was made a new creation – resulting in making multiplying disciples and leaders of my Lord and Savior – Jesus Christ.” ~ Vertical Life Plan, 2011

Step Two: Come up with a life verse/s to write out and memorize to remind yourself regularly of your life’s calling (I recommend finding an OT and a NT verse and write them out under your Life’s calling.

Examples from the Legacy Standard Bible: 

Psalm 37:4, Delight yourself in Yahweh; And He will give you the desires of your heart.

Proverbs 3:5-6,Trust in Yahweh with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight. 

1 Timothy 4:16, Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.

Acts 20:24, But I do not make my life of any account nor dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.

  • I also recommend writing some of your favorite quotes or mottos here under Your Life Calling:

Examples:

  • A.W. Tozer, “God will only use those with whom His glory is safe.”
  • John Piper, “God is most glorified in me when I am most satisfied in Him.”
  • David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “Holiness is not something we are called upon to do in order that we may become something; it is something we are to do because of what we already are.”
  • F.F. Bruce, “The soul’s deepest thirst is for God Himself, who has made us so that we can never be satisfied without Him.”
  • Paul David Tripp, “Don’t be satisfied with anything less than what God’s powerful grace is able to produce in you and through you.” 
  • “We are called to live Coram Deo, defined as: before the presence of God, under the authority of God and to the glory of God.” ~ R. C. Sproul

What do all these verses and quotes have in common? They reiterate the concept of the Verticality of life. However, they also help me to emphasize verticality in my horizontal relationships with people. They remind me that if my relationship with God is first and of the uttermost importance to me then I will also become more like Jesus as I spend time with Him. So in Part 2 of developing a Vertical Life Plan I’m going to talk about our top priority in life – in the next article we are going to look at how to write an intentional strategy to make our number one priority in life our relationship with Jesus. I’m going to help you to have a larger vision of Jesus than any other person in your life. The third step in the Vertical Life Plan is in how we can spend time with Jesus; what to do in that time with Him; and how to plan our time with Jesus so that we can make a vertical impact in our horizontal relationships in our sphere of influence.

Let me leave you with this Scripture which totally captures the idea of thinking vertically in a horizontal culture from the apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 10:5-7, “as we tear down speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is fulfilled. You are looking at things as they are outwardly. If anyone is confident in himself that he is Christ’s, let him consider this again within himself, that just as he is Christ’s, so also are we.” 

~ Dr. David P. Craig