The Initials at the Bottom of the Page

Johann Sebastian Bach is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers in Western history. His works — from the Brandenburg Concertos to the Mass in B Minor — remain towering achievements three centuries later. Musicians still study his compositions the way architects study cathedrals.

Yet Bach had a habit that reveals everything about the man behind the music. At the bottom of nearly every manuscript he completed, he wrote three letters: S.D.G. Soli Deo Gloria. To God alone be the glory.

Not "composed by the great Johann Sebastian Bach." Not "look what I have made." Just a quiet reminder, written in his own hand, that the gift flowing through his pen belonged to Someone Else.

During his lifetime, Bach wasn't even the most famous musician in his own family. He spent decades as a church musician in Leipzig, writing cantatas week after week for Sunday services, often clashing with church councils over budgets and choir boys. He didn't compose for concert halls or royal courts. He composed for worship.

There is something deeply freeing about Bach's three little letters. Humility doesn't mean denying your gifts — Bach certainly used every ounce of his. Humility means knowing where those gifts come from. It means doing your finest work and then writing at the bottom of the page: this was never really mine.

The Apostle Paul put it simply: "What do you have that you did not receive?" The answer, if we are honest, is nothing at all.