A Convo With God: I'm BAD!

“And Moses the servant of the LORD died there in Moab, as the LORD had said. He buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is. Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone…

Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, who did all those miraculous signs and wonders the LORD sent him to do in Egypt—to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land. For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel. – Excerpt from Deuteronomy 34: 5-12

Moses was a BAD man.

Not bad meaning bad but bad meaning good.

Let’s think about this for a minute. He was the most humble man on earth while being one of a kind in the miracles that he did. And to top that off God presided over his funeral and buried him Himself!

That’s pretty ill.

But the key to everything that Moses did in these last four books of the Bible is the first thing that I mentioned.

His humility…

It was his humility that allowed him to follow God’s instructions so faithfully, it was his humility that allowed him to view his power as something to be used to serve others, it was his humility that gave him the patience to deal with Israel’s constant gripes and complaints.

Humility is what allowed him to be an instrument of God.

When you think about the people who have done great, positive change in the world they all have this most important characteristic. They are humble almost beyond reason.

Let’s see… here’s a quick list that comes to mind:

Gandhi…check

Martin Luther King Jr… check

Mother Theresa… check

The thing that these three great people had in common is that they lived to serve others, and in so doing they were able to wield great power for good.

Ok… so if you don’t like the whole vow of poverty idea remember that there are many different ways to serve. I have talked about Warren Buffett several times but he is a great example here. He and his wife agreed, before they got married, that the huge wealth they would amass would be given back to humanity. Bill and Melinda Gates too are doing this as well as many other fantastically rich folks.

The most important question of leadership is what is in your heart, not what is in your wallet.

Spiderman’s uncle told him that with great power comes great responsibility. Whether your power is in the form of money, talent, charisma, or vision, we should ask ourselves what our responsibility is. How can I use this power to help others? How can I be an instrument of good in the world?

It may seem sometimes like there is so much bad in the world that it is pointless to fight. But history has shown that the organized efforts of a few good people are more than a match for any evil that the world has to offer.

So let’s try to be like Moses… each and every day do the best that we can with what we have.

I’m willing to bet that you’ll still feel like the guy below by focusing on others before yourself.