Humility

It is difficult to recognize the need for humility. If you work hard and accomplish tasks or goals, the natural response is to take credit for what has been done. After creating a painting, it is easy to think "Look at that beautiful painting! I'm very proud of what I have accomplished," but the humble response would be to recognize and credit God for everything I accomplish. God is the ultimate source of everything good (James 1:17). We need to keep that in mind.

Pride often blocks our minds from realizing our need for humility. It's a paradox, but here is the best way I can explain it: We always need to be humble. The way of the world (or the natural way, for those who are not saved) is to take pride in what they accomplish and thrive on the results of what they do. Whenever we allow ourselves to think that anything we do is a result of our own work and not a result of God, we are being proud and not being humble (they are diametrically opposed). Although we have a great opportunity to display humility because of what God has accomplished through us, we cannot see that because our pride is keeping us from seeing that opportunity.

It seems to me that the typical way the Lord uses to remove pride from blinding us to our need for humility is to send a failure or crisis (whether mild, moderate, or extreme) in our life. By failing, we either see that we cannot accomplish what we wanted to do (or anything, for that matter) on our own, or we become more deeply entrenched in our pride and try to accomplish more on our own (which is impossible). By experiencing a crisis, we either see that God is in control and we are not, blame God for what has happened (because we perceive that He does not have our best interest in mind), feel sorry for ourselves because with think we have been treated unjustly (a more hidden kind of pride, in my opinion), or we consider ourselves the unfortunate victims of an unexpected incident (which does not take into effect that God has a plan and purpose for our lives).

I don't write this post to preach to the world about how proud they are and how much they need to change; I write it because pride and arrogance are some of my biggest weaknesses and I want to share what God has taught me. The best way I can perceive to keep pride from my life and keep humility in is to constantly remind myself that I can do nothing on my own and that God should be praised and credited for everything He has done...a simple lesson that is difficult to apply. I hope and pray that you may learn the lesson He has in store for you concerning humility.

TJ and Monticello

When I was in Charlottesville, Virginia, I had the privilege of seeing Monticello, the famous home of Thomas Jefferson that is displayed on the back of the nickel. It was a beautiful home (as you can see below), filled with artifacts from the Lewis and Clark expedition, creative inventions of Jefferson, paintings and sculptures from all over the world, and thousands of books. He was fascinated with everything Roman, and Monticello reflected that with incredibly intricately designed molding, among many other aspects of his home. He was also intrigued with extended social gatherings in his house (which he experienced while in France), as shown by the open dinner room on the North side of the first floor which hosted several dinner parties. I could go on and on about Monticello (and could spend several days admiring Jefferson's handiwork), and it is intriguing how much Jefferson's interests and character are reflected in his home.

To Thomas Jefferson, reason and education were boundless. His whole life was centered around learning more and living rationally. One of his famous quotes was "I cannot live without my books," written in a letter to John Adams. Several rooms in his home were dedicated to his studies and designed for optimal reading conditions. Jefferson was educated in Greek, Latin, and Law, and self educated in Italian, French, and Architecture (in order to work on his home himself). He was a brilliant man, but somehow he missed out on the purpose and meaning of his life.

He spent so much time building and rebuilding Monticello (rebuilt five times) in order to have a beautiful home for his family, his writing, his thinking, and his enjoyment. This is a very rational thing to do for someone with the goals he had (discovering as much as he could though "boundless" reason and demonstrating the beauty of human reason), but now (to me) Monticello stands as a monument to Jefferson's arrogance in mankind. Is it beautiful and exquisite? Yes. Is it brilliantly designed for what Jefferson wanted? Certainly. Does it have artifacts and features from things that Jefferson loved? Indeed. And did I thoroughly enjoy visiting Monticello? Absolutely. But all the time and effort Jefferson spent constructing his home to be a beacon for human reason was wasted because he missed out in having Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. Now Jefferson is dead and he is missing out on living eternally in heaven with God.

Our lives are temporary, and what we make or the legacy we leave is fleeting. A life in Jesus is eternally rewarding. The choice is yours: will you build a "Monticello" in this world, or will you build a mansion in heaven?

"And so it begins..."

Thanks for checking out my blog, I hope that you enjoy what you read, or at least get some kind of inspiration from it. Here are my goals for this blog: to show how God is working in my life, to illustrate the lessons He is teaching me, and to express my opinion about certain key topics. Some of the perspectives I present you may not agree with...I expect that to happen (because my scope is limited and not always on target). If you do disagree with my perception, please comment; I want to learn as much as I can, and your comments are a great way for me to do that.

I pray that God will use this blog to shine His light and to develop closer relationships to Him.

Enjoy!