As I have previously opined on this blog, many of the people who read what I write, listen to what I say, and interact with me ascribe certain negative traits to me. I find it very odd that we ascribe all positive traits we can to ourselves while at the same time ascribing all negative ones we can to people we do not like. When I saw a video Monday about a congregation of folks headed to FL to make sure Trayvon Martin got justice, I asked if they would do the same thing if it was discovered his killer shot in self defense. We are so vain, so proud in our hearts, that we believe we know everything.
Last night, I pulled my copy of Sherlock Holmes off the shelf. I fell in love with these stories as a young boy, because my parents had this collection of his stories on their bookshelf, and perhaps unbeknownst to them until now I used to take those books and read them. Among those volumes we find the following warning:
"I never guess. It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts." --Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Sign of Four
We think sometimes that because we have not done certain things or been subjected to certain things that we are better than other people. I remember being in a church meeting where a particular leader made some sweeping generalizations about what he 'knew' he would do in certain circumstances. Knowing there to be more than just one previously married person in the group, I asked him how he was so sure what he would do in a circumstance to which he had never been subjected. He has no data; what he told us was what he would like to think he would do.
Too often, in counting our blessings, we think they make us count for more. We forget, however, not only the source from which these blessings and advantages come but also the reason for which they are given. It can frequently be said of us as prophets warned people of old that "Ye do not remember the Lord your God in the things with which he hath blessed you, but ye do always remember your riches, not to thank the Lord your God for them; yea, your hearts are not drawn out unto the Lord, but they do swell with great pride, unto boasting, and unto great swelling, envyings, strifes, malice, persecutions, and murders, and all manner of iniquities." Although we remember our riches, we do not acknowledge Him from whom all blessings flow, that these things, our talents and time and fortunes, are all on loan. Moreover, we do not realize for what end we have been given them, if we seek them so that we can do good. I have previously written that it's not necessarily about giving away our substance, but it allows us to not worry about our financial status so we can give freely of our time, talents, and attention to those who need our help.
Many people think that because they have more they are better. However, the scriptures teach us that whom much is given much is required. It is not that God expects us to use them wisely, it is a REQUIREMENT, the violation of which brings the judgment of God. Think of Lazarus and the rich man. The rich man was blessed in life, and he had to pay the price in death. Lazarus, who had paid the price in life, was richly rewarded after death. God gives us things, not because we are better, but because there are things for us to do that nobody else can do as well as we. Yet, too many men use those talents to exalt themselves, to set themselves up as a light unto the people that they might get gain. That is however, priestcraft, because it is so vain and proud of us to assume that any man who is fallen can really ultimately be our benefactor.
On a universal scale, man is absolutely inconsequential. For a little perspective on our actual relative scale, play with this tool for a while. It shows just how small we really are compared to the universe. We think we can destroy a planet; well, that really is insignificant compared to the forces that move galaxies, pulsars, stars, ad infinitum. If the universe wanted to, it could render our entire species extinct in less than eight minutes, and there's nothing we can do about it. We, however, remain proud in our hearts and puff up our chests and wear vain ornaments when it is our souls that ought be decked with deeds rather than our chests with medals.
Man has no actual real value. We are made of common elements. We are outnumbered even on our own planet by other organisms that are more successful than we and better able to advance themselves because they are reasonable and never emotional. Humans are the only species I know that actively weakens itself or that favors the survival of another species over its own. We have value because God values us. We have been taught that God so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son that whoso believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Our utility and value are directly related to how we use what God gives us to help our fellow men gain external life and exaltation. It's not just Job from whom everything can be taken in an instant; long have we forgotten the hopes that were dashed when the stock market crashed in 1929, all the suicides and apoplexies. Many among us have gone from afluence to poverty in just the last few years. I personally know some folks who were once millionaires who now ask to borrow money from me. All of that can be gone in a moment; what will remain when it does is your character. At that time, the true value of your heart will be apparent and visible to all. Whether you like what you see will depend on how you make use of what is given to you. Use it wisely.
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