JUST FOR SPOTLIGHT: Devotion for Tuesday May 10, 2016

JUST FOR SPOTLIGHT: Devotion for Tuesday May 10, 2016

Text: Genesis 11:1 – 9       Memory verse: v 4

We build monuments to great moments and people but monuments are more than just memory aids; in building them we want, above all, to glorify something. We want to honour a person or idealize an event. After the Flood, God made a covenant with Noah and his descendants. But the people forgot God; His goodness, His deliverance, His judgment, and His promise soon after that. They became impressed with themselves, so much so that they decided to erect a monument for themselves. They built their tower to glorify their greatness; it became, instead, a memorial to their greatest foolishness; human arrogance. We can learn from this passage: (1) God is good and merciful to us. (2) God is greater than we are. (3) All humans are connected by sin.

The people in this story built the Tower of Babel for the whole world to see (Gen. 11:3-4). Today, people may not build statues, temples, or pyramids, but they still erect monuments in achievements, expensive clothes, big houses, fancy cars, important jobs to call attention to them. When these are used as means to give us personal identity and self-worth, these otherwise worthy pursuits take God’s place. God gives us freedom to develop in many areas, but not the freedom to replace Him. What monument have you built for yourself?

Food for Thought: What monuments are you erecting to give yourself personal identity instead of glorifying God?   

Prayer: Help me Lord not to attach self worth to the blessings you have given to me. Rather, grant that I will use them to your praise and glory.