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Self-Destructive Power in Building Monuments to Ourselves
In
absolute arrogance and stupidity, the people of the plains of Babylonia set out
to make a name for themselves.
.
.
Much
like war, erosion, and destruction have buried the great buildings of the past
under rubble, sand and jungle overgrowth, the tower of Babel was buried under
the rubble of human confusion because of pride. We must be careful not to let
pride and sin enter into our hearts and steal away our servant hearts and
desires to honor Jesus truly. We have to remember that the middle of every sin
and all pride is a capital "I" When Jesus came, he had all the glory
of heaven, yet he gave it all up to serve us and bring us back to the Father.
He gave up everything, yet God gave him all the glory — not because he sought
fame, but because he surrendered himself to serve - God calls us to follow in
Jesus’ steps
by
James Nored & Phil Ware
Finding
My Story in God's Story
"He bruised both
lungs. He had a collapse of the lung. He had multiple lacerations to his
spleen, and he had a pelvic fracture," said Joseph Darryl Amos, the chief of
trauma at Dallas Methodist Medical Center.
I feel more comfortable referring to this
story now that we know Triston is going to be fine.
That wasn’t always true. He had wanted to
take the selfie of all selfies on top of a beautiful bridge with the Dallas, Texas,
skyline in the background.
He plunged 50 feet before he crash-landed on
the ground.
Fortunately, unlike hundreds who have died
trying to take selfies, Triston survived and has made a tremendous recovery.
Why would so many people risk so much for a picture?
Most want hundreds, even thousands, of
“likes” on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
The same flawed reasoning that drives people
to do dumb, embarrassing, and dangerous things to get on television, also
drives people to risk their lives for a moment of fleeting fame.
Some warped and insatiable force inside us as
people makes many of us want to be more, to have more, and to be known more,
than other normal people.
That warped and insatiable force is pride.
James Nored talks about this kind of foolish pride in today’s video:
If you can't see the video, and you sure
don't want to miss it, view it online. For additional ideas to consider and
some things to discuss with others, we encourage you to look at the Study
Guide.
As the people of Babel, and Triston, can tell
you, pride goes before destruction, or at least near destruction — see Proverbs
16:18.
The Message paraphrases this important truth
with these clear words:
First pride, then the crash — the bigger the
ego, the harder the fall.
The Bible repeatedly warns us against pride
and exalting ourselves above others.
In the early chapters of Genesis, humanity
plunged into greater and greater evil as it moved away from any meaningful
relationship with God.
Then God stopped them. He confused their
language. Their pride was gone in the chaos of not being able to understand
each other.
In the grand scheme of God’s plan, however,
the scattering of people at Babel may have been less of a punishment and more
an act of saving them from themselves.
Rebellion, blaming, murdering, evil, and
violence had run rampant and had destroyed almost everything of value for
humanity.
In absolute arrogance and stupidity — notice
the Bible's biting irony about building a tall building with bricks and tar (Genesis 11:3) — the people of the
plains of Babylonia had tried to make a name for themselves.
They had wanted to ascend to the heavens to
impress and be equal with God (Genesis 11:1-4).
God, however, had come down to their meager
(by heaven's standards) building project and scattered the arrogant by
confusing their language (Genesis
11:5-9).
Much like war, erosion, and destruction have
buried the great buildings of the past under rubble, sand and jungle
overgrowth, the tower of Babel was buried under the rubble of human confusion
because of pride.
In looking at this story again, the Holy
Spirit sure seems to be nudging us to ask a question we often have chosen not
to consider because we don’t want to face the truth it reveals:
How many times has the Lord saved us, saved
me, from a worse fate, an even more destructive outcome, by letting us, and
yes, me, fail because of our pride?
Hum? That question feels a little too
convicting, doesn’t it!
However, we can’t dodge it. Most of us
haven’t plunged to life-altering endings while trying to take a selfie that
might make us famous.
Most of us, on the other hand, have done
other idiotic things trying to make ourselves feel important.
Instead of trusting our role in the world and
serving others, we use all sorts of spiritual-sounding
"phony-baloney" to explain why we want to exalt ourselves:
I just want to do something great for God.
I want to make a difference in this world by
doing something impressive for the kingdom.
Surely, God wants me (or us) to build a great
church to honor him and reach people.
Yes, some people with great hearts and
servant lives have said similarly sounding things.
However, we must be careful not to let pride
and sin enter into our hearts and steal away our servant hearts and desires to
honor Jesus truly.
We have to remember that the middle of every
sin and all pride is a capital "I"!
Thankfully, God saved us from ourselves with
some humbling embarrassment with our bumbling failures.
So, let's make the lessons of Babel personal.
What about you?
How has pride caused you to stumble and
embarrass yourself in the past?
How has God saved you from yourself and your
pride by allowing you to fail?
Do you think the confusion of language and
the scattering of people at Babel was more about punishing or more about God
preventing something worse happening — like their structure collapsing or the
city becoming a concentration of evil and violence?
We have to remember that the middle of every
sin and all pride is a capital "I"!
When Jesus came, he had all the glory of
heaven, yet he gave it all up to serve us and bring us back to the Father.
He gave up everything, yet God gave him all
the glory — not because he sought fame, but because he surrendered himself to
serve.
Now, God calls us to follow in Jesus’ steps:
“You must have the
same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
Though he was God,
he did not think of equality with God
as something to cling to
“Instead, he gave up
his divine privileges;
he took the humble position of a slave
and was born as a human being.
“When he appeared in
human form,
he humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
“Therefore, God
elevated him to the place of highest honor
and gave him the name above all other names,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should
bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is
Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.” – (Philippians 2:5-11)
Let’s encourage each other to serve one
another and the lost and broken of our world.
Let’s trust God to help us find true
greatness in Jesus’ way of life.
We hope you will continue to join us in
seeking God and serving people as we journey together to find our story in
God’s story of redemption.
Jesus said to [his
disciples], “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who
exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be
like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the
one who rules like the one who serves" - (Luke 22:25-26).
In
this series, James Nored and Phil Ware partner two pioneering
ministries providing resources to reach coming generations. James is a
minister, Executive Director of Next Generation for Christ, and author of the
Story of Redemption Film Series, filmed in the Israel, U.S., and around the
world. This series is designed to lead seekers to faith and strengthen the
faith of believers. Divided into 5-6 minute video segments, it is great to use
with social media, small groups, sermon series, families, and friends. Phil is
President of Heartlight, Inc., a preacher for 40 years, author of five books
along with hundreds of articles & 11 years of daily devotionals, coach for
churches in transition, and a resource for missionary renewal. Phil's
verseoftheday.com devotionals are read by hundreds of thousands every day.
Heartlight
Provides
Positive Resources for Daily Christian Living.
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