You Can't Build The Taj Mahal On Toothpicks

On the right bank of the river Yamuna in Agra, Utter Predesh India, sits a 42 acre compound known as the Taj Mahal. Construction on the compound began in 1631, and took more than twenty years to complete. The compound was commissioned by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan to house the tomb of his wife Mumtaz Mahal. In 1983 it was designated as an UNESCO World Heritage site, and is considered "the jewel of Islamic art and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world's heritage.

The dimensions of the Taj Mahal are staggering. It sits on a 20 foot high slab of white marble and its sides are 313 feet (the sizes of three football fields). Four 108 foot columns called minarets flank each side of the main building, which is topped by a 75 foot high onion shaped dome. Scholars believe more than 20,000 artists, laborers and painters were involved in its construction.

I bring this incredibly abbreviated description of an architectural marvel to your attention for one reason: so that you will have the proper context to understand one of my brother Jason’s favorite axioms. My brother Jason (who is also a Pastor) is a history buff.  He loves reaching back into his vast knowledge of history to draw lessons to clarify current events and personal decisions. During one of his conversations with my son Malachi, he warned him to always remember that “you can’t build the Taj Mahal on toothpicks.” When you consider the size of the Taj Mahal and the size of a toothpick, the lesson should be blindingly clear. You cannot build something that big on something that small. Whatever you are trying to build, you better make sure that the foundation is large enough.

This was the logic behind God’s strategy when he brought the children of Israel into the Promised Land. According to Exodus 23;27-30, God tells Moses:

I will send my fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come, and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee. And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee. I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee. By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.

God told Moses that the transition to the Promised Land would not be overnight. Their transition to the next level would be gradual.  It would occur “little by little” until the people increased. As they increased, their possession would also increase.  God’s strategy has not changed.  Very rarely do his blessings come without a process that is deliberately designed to increase our character, our capacity, and our competence.  

As our faith increases, our possession increases.

As our stamina increases, our possession increases.

As our commitment increases, our possession increases.

As our tenacity increases, our possession increases.

As our discipline increases, our possession increases.

What we have and where we are is usually a reflection of who we are. I used to hear the old saints used to say that “the Lord won’t put more on you than you can bear.” When they used that expression, they were referring to their burdens. But that expression can apply to our blessings as well. God won’t put more burdens on us that we can bear. But God will also not put more blessings on you than you bear.

Why, you ask?

Because you can’t build the Taj Mahal on toothpicks.

You can’t have Taj Mahal dreams and toothpick character.

You can’t have Taj Mahal hopes and toothpick habits.

You can’t have Taj Mahal ambitions and a toothpick work ethic.

The poet Edwin Markham said it best:

We all are blind until we see that in the human plan

Nothing is worth the making if it does not make the man.

Why build these cities glorious if man unbuilded goes?

In vain we build the world, unless The builder also grows.