Three Letters at the End of Every Score

Johann Sebastian Bach composed over a thousand works — cantatas, fugues, concertos, and chorales that still move audiences three centuries later. Musicologists consider him one of the greatest composers who ever lived. Yet at the bottom of nearly every manuscript, Bach wrote three small letters: S.D.G. — Soli Deo Gloria. "To God alone the glory."

He didn't see himself as a genius. He saw himself as a servant. At the top of his scores, he often wrote "J.J." — Jesu Juva, "Jesus, help me." Every composition began with a plea and ended with a redirect. Whatever beauty flowed through his pen, Bach insisted it belonged to the Almighty.

This wasn't false modesty from a man unaware of his talent. Bach knew his craft. He worked relentlessly — studying, teaching, and revising. But he understood something that eludes many of us: skill is a gift, and gifts have a Giver.

Paul wrote, "What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?" (1 Corinthians 4:7). True humility isn't pretending you have nothing to offer. It's knowing exactly where your offering came from.

What if we ended every project, every conversation, every day the way Bach ended his music — not with our own name, but with three quiet letters that point all glory back to God?