Building a Tower

Genesis 11

1 The whole earth had a common language and a common vocabulary. 2 When the people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. 3 Then they said to one another, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” (They had brick instead of stone and tar instead of mortar.) 4 Then they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens so that we may make a name for ourselves. Otherwise we will be scattered across the face of the entire earth.”

5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the people had started building. 6 And the Lord said, “If as one people all sharing a common language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be beyond them. 7 Come, let’s go down and confuse their language so they won’t be able to understand each other.”

8 So the Lord scattered them from there across the face of the entire earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why its name was called Babel – because there the Lord confused the language of the entire world, and from there the Lord scattered them across the face of the entire earth.

How much of our time and energy is spent trying to make a name for ourselves? We want to be remembered. We try to do something worth remembering. We try to develop a reputation. We throw our energy into trying to be popularity, sports, academics, jobs, etc. so that we won't be forgotten. I saw one of the senior T shirts the other day and it said "class of '10 You Won't Forget." I started to tell the kid, "Yeah, Right!" but held my tongue and just thought about it.

If you build a "Tower of Babel," God will set things straight!

My claim to fame used to be football. People knew who I was. I was recruited and all that junk. I thought I was hot stuff. Really humble and all. You know. In college, I started at linebacker for 4 years. As a junior, I was voted the Defensive MVP of our team and this really helped my humility. Coming back for my senior year, I had high hopes for the season.

Although I had achieved some individual success, I had never played for a winning team.

As a senior, I split time with another linebacker. Not exactly what I had hoped for, but we went undefeated! We were playing in the playoffs in South Dakota the first week of December. Talk about cold! The temp was in the teens and the wind was blowing in the 20s!

Late in the game, I dropped an interception that probably would have won the game for us. We went on to lose the game. This was one of the last plays of my football career. I left the game with a bitter taste in my mouth. I always took pride in my play and to finish like that hurt.

Looking back, it's clear to me that I took too much pride in my play.

This is what it came down to...

Luke 14:11

"For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

INAM