First and Last...

August 3, 2009

Danielle Joyner Kelley

"So the last will be first, and the first will be last." Matthew 20:16.

Through tough economic times filled with rumors of war, we learn more about humility. When things are taken away from us, we feel humble and exposed. At that moment we have an opportunity to look at others who have even less, and act compassionately and giving towards them.

Unfortunately in this world, pride and arrogance are common reactions no matter what our economic or war times look like.

When we brag about having something in the middle of nothing, we set ourselves up for what we fear. When we fail to learn the lesson of being humble, there are consequences.

Many people define who they are by comparison because that is how we were taught. We know what color our hair is because we know what color others are, and we know what type of car we like to drive because we have driven another type. While comparison is useful for teaching, it is also very useful at getting us into trouble.

When we involve our egos in the mix of comparing ourselves, we also declare our vulnerability. When someone is bragging about what they have they are defining their worth by something external. Anything external can be taken in the blink of an eye. Because the person defined themselves that way, they run the risk of showing others what they no longer have when it is gone. If that is how they defined their worth, and it is taken away, then they have nothing left.

The problem with this all is that humans were never meant to define themselves by something external. When we do, our vulnerability often teaches us a lesson. The lesson is that we were created as nothing but ourselves, and will leave with nothing but ourselves as well. “Naked a man comes from his mother's womb, and as he comes, so he departs. He takes nothing from his labor that he can carry in his hand.” Ecclesiastes 5:15.

Another problem is greed. When we get something, we want more, and succumb to the idea that “nothing is ever enough”. The truth is that we did not have “nothing” and we wanted something, we had a lot and wanted more. Those are just the words we use to justify our desire.

The hard times teach us what is important, and that usually we have all that we need. In the end, all that is left to survive is not something external that can disappear, but it is our legacy that is everlasting and carried on. Striving to work for what people will remember about us is the key.

At the moment we are facing our Creator and dealing with our end, we will know what mattered most, and that nothing external on Earth could have provided it. “You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it." Haggai 1:6.

When you live thinking of others with your eye on the only prize that matters, you have security that during tough times, you will not fall. "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." Matthew 7:24-27.

Also, you have the security that when you leave the Earth and are standing in line, waiting to meet your Creator, you will find out that because you put others ahead of yourself in your own line,

God will do the same for you as well.