Once upon a time, there was a wealthy king. Well, he was wealthy, though the matter of his royalty was much less certain, except in his own mind. Entire nations would tremble at the mention of his name. One day, while sitting in his court, he was reminded by one of his advisors of his enormous wealth, and the would-be king wondered exactly how rich he was. This is a short cautionary tale about how to, or not to, judge your self-worth.
He asked a governor how wealthy the governor thought he was. “Oh, Sire! You must be worth a billion dollars,” the governor replied. He then asked his Speaker for his opinion. “Oh, Sire! You must be worth two billion dollars,” the Speaker said. The king frowned and called on his Magistrate of Justice. She shook her blond locks and said, “Oh, Sire! You must be worth five billion dollars!” The king looked around and saw a prominent minister and solicited his opinion. “Oh, Sire! I’m certain you must be worth a hundred billion dollars!” Not to be undone, the ambitious but amoral Crown Prince leaped to his feet and yelled, “One half of a trillion dollars!”
The king looked around his court and saw someone with a sheepish smile on his face. The king did not trust this person. This individual was known to be an honest and moral man, but he was liberal-minded and doubted the king’s noble lineage. “What say YOU, scoundrel?” the
The kind man thought for a moment before replying “I’m not certain of how wealthy you are Sire, but it cannot be more than thirty pieces of silver.” “Thirty pieces of silver” the kind screamed! Before I have you arrested for treason, suppose you explain yourself!”
The man replied calmly “My Lord and Savior was valued to be worth only thirty pieces of silver, and you are certainly not he, so you must be worth less.”
Jesus said: “But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.” Matthew 19:30.
