Devotion for Monday May 21, 2018
Topic:
Most Monuments We Build Are For Spotlight
Text:
Genesis 11:1 – 9
Most times, we build monuments to mark/celebrate
great moments and people. However, monuments are more than just memory aids. In
building them we want, above all, to glorify something; we use them to honour a
person or idealize an event. After the Flood, God made a covenant with Noah and
his descendants which included dispersing to other parts of the earth. 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
and 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 (Genesis 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?
Sing
A&M 361; Abu 128
Food for
Thought:
What monuments are you erecting to give yourself personal identity instead of
glorifying God?
Memory
verse:
Genesis 11:4
Prayer: Help me, Lord God, 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.
