By Augustus Henry (PhD)
To establish the idea of liberty
In 1865, a French political intellectual and anti-slavery activist named Edouard de Laboulaye proposed that a statue representing liberty be built for the United States. It took 19 years to completion. The Statue of Liberty stands 305 feet tall and used 31 tons of copper and 125 tons of steel.
What does God deserve, a monument?
First of all, monuments are often erected to immortalize dead people or catastrophic events.
The one thing that is common in most recognized definitions of monuments is death. To oxford, it is a tombstone. To Webster, it is a sepulcher. To Collins, it’s a memorial. To the world book, it is a gravestone. And to Wikipedia, it is a commemoration of past great lives and ideas. But a Monument also reminds us of the best in civil society or individuals and the ideal for which they stand.
Much of the world greatest and most recognized Obelisks are standing in memory of great dead men and built with large sums of national resources. The resources and talent employed to build those markers were so extreme that even with today’s advanced technology, it is still hard to understand how past civilizations constructed such complex structures.
The Egyptian sphinx – Six stories tall, 260 ft. long, 200-ton megalith stone.
The Egyptian Pyramids Giza Plateau – 756ft in length and width, and 481ft tall. It took 300,000 men working every day for 30 years to erect it.
Taj Mahal – The Taj Mahal is widely recognized as “the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world’s heritage. It covers an area of about (552 Acres). The construction began around 1632 and was completed around 1653. The Martin Luther King, Jr. monument – $120 million.
Saint Lucia’s Sir Arthur Lewis Nobel Laureate tomb ($250,000) inscription: the fundamental cure for poverty is not money; it is education.
If such immense talent and exorbitant resources can be devoted to remembering finite, expendable, immoral, immortal man, what must we attribute to the all-knowing, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent and everlasting God? Who is God, and what should represent him? By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible, Heb. 11:3. He created time, the most difficult concept for science to define. H
They say that the universe is 14.3 billion years old. If that is true, what gift of memory can one attribute to one whose ideas are sustained over such a span of time. Traveling at the speed of light, it would take 100,000 years to cross the Milky Way which is only a small part of the universe. So, what would you give to represent a God that created an entity so vast and expanded, so intricate and complex, so big, yet so detailed? You can only give what you have, and that is you. You are God’s monument. The bible said that you were created in his image, after his likeness. When people see you, they should see God in you: when you talk, they hear God talk; when you walk, they see God walk; when you smile, they should see God in you. Even in anger, they should see Jesus in you.
If you are God’s monument, your conversation will be seasoned with salt. Your affection will be set in heaven, not on this corrupted earth. You would rather give than receive. Unlike Chevrolet whose motto is like a rock – we should embody the rock of ages. Unlike Allstate with their good hands – we should be in the hands of the man that stilled the waters. Unlike Geico who needs fifteen minutes of your time, we should demonstrate that Jesus is in you all the time. Unlike Ford that is built for the road ahead, our lives must teach people that Jesus is the way, and no man comes to the Father but through him. When people come around you, they should get a better understanding of who God is.
Jesus the perfect monument
Philip asks Jesus to show him the father and Jesus responded, if you have seen me, you have seen the father (John 14:5). A monument must capture the essence of the person or concept that it represents. Jesus’ response to the disciples bore the implication that when he healed; when he feed the hungry; when he cast out demons; he was essentially a transparency of God the father, an eternal and ever-loving God.
When he gave sight to the blind; when he raised the dead; when he forgave Mary Magdalene, he was embodying the character of the Most High God. People saw the father through the son.
Monuments are not always perfect, still they endure
Over time, most monuments battle weather and material breakdown. The mortar may crack, paint may fade, and soil erosion could even destabilize some of those structures. However, despite lingering battles with the elements, we can still tell what they represent. In the same way, striving to represent God in our mortal lives is a perpetual struggle. That is Paul’s concern when he says, “I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ that lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). Paul concludes that if we allow Jesus Christ to reign in us, we become beacons for God. Monuments don’t have to be devoted to death. Although we must take up our cross, our lives should be a living story of the everlasting God.
We are as a clear outer shell for the true monument
The bible says in Eph 3:17 that Jesus dwells in our hearts. If he lives in our hearts, and he is a light, how will the world see him if we are not clear clean and transparent?
The bible says, “let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). Most earthly monuments are constructed with bedrock limestone; marble; granite; gold; bronze; copper; brass; glass – all temporal material. What should a God’s monument contain?
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law (Gal. 5:23-24). “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your body,” (1 Cor. 6:19-20). The Holy Spirit lives in there to help you reproduce Christlikeness, so you are the transparency for Christ the real monument.