I recently read some interesting information about Benjamin Franklin. I've always known he was one of history's most fascinating men, but what I read made me respect him even more.
Here's what I read:
"When Ben Franklin was a young man, he didn't practice much of the advice for which he later became famous. At the age of 20, he decided to change his irresponsible ways and made four resolutions to help guide him through life toward 'moral perfection'."
His four resolutions were as follows:
(1) Become more frugal so that he could pay money to the people he owed.
(2) Resolve to become more honest and truthful in every way he could.
(3) Be as industrious as possible at whatever task was at hand.
(4) Never speak ill of any person, not even if what he might say was true, and to speak of only the good things about the people he knew.
The article goes on to say that "Franklin believed strongly in self-improvement and worked tirelessly to better himself. From his four resolutions, Franklin developed 13 virtues to live and perfect during his lifetime. He worked on only one per week. At the end of each week, he would evaluate his progress and then move on to the next virtue. After working on the 13th virtue, he started over again with the first one."
Some people might say that Ben Franklin was too legalistic, but I see him as someone who lived his life in an upright way, trying his best to have unquestionable Christ-like character.
I wish more people were like Ben Franklin. We could use an injection of virtue in this world right now.
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