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SPEAKING TO THE SOUL

“Then they said, “Come, let’s build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky. This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world.””
Genesis 11:4 NLT

I am amazed that after so many years I remain fascinated with myself. Not, I trust, in any narcissistic way, but with my potential. I am still actively engaged with life and have many interests I long to pursue – more interests than I imagine I have years left to realise. Just recently, Jayne and I were supporting our daughter in making costumes and I thought I’d like to master the sewing machine and explore making my own clothes.

My motivation to make clothes is made up of three fundamental elements. I am interested in exploring a new hobby, I want to reduce my living costs and this might help with clothing, and finally I want to take charge of my own destiny. I think there is a base note within all humanity for attempting to manage the future through considered action we might take today. Here the peoples in the earth determined to build a tower reaching to the heavens. The scripture plays on the Hebrew word for Babylonia, meaning gateway to the heavens, and babel, a word meaning confusion.

There is in essence nothing wrong with the desire to pursue God into the heavens. My motivation is what counts. I can pursue God in an attempt to secure my own well-being. Or I can pursue God out of a commitment to love and serve him in a more authentic way. In the former, I seek to take control and make God my servant. In the latter, I yield entirely to God.

Here we find it’s for human control and mastery that the ingenuity of humanity is directed. History is littered with the failure of well-intentioned attempts at creating a utopia on earth; leaders who may well have had a positive intention, and yet under the burden of power created a world of privilege and injustice. Humanity is flawed and may not handle power without experiencing and yielding to its corrupting influence. As such, God confused the people’s attempts at grandeur.

QUESTION

What motivates you in your discipleship?

PRAYER

Lord, may you be most glorified in me when I am most satisfied in you.


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