Ascending to new heights ???

Tower of Babel Gen 11: 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.”

Romans 10:3 For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Something about the May 10,1996 catastrophic summit attempt on Mount Everest captivates me in a large and lasting way. Best selling author John Krakauer chronicles the disaster that claimed the lives of eight people in his book Into Thin Air. The account grabbed me so hard that I literally read the book in one day. Afterward, I found myself asking why to a lot of things. Why was I fascinated with the story? Why would anyone want to try to kill themselves by climbing to 29,000feet? Why are people famous for doing something so dangerous and deadly?

Just like the tower of Babel, our lives will testify that there is an urge in our sin nature to elevate ourselves in the sight of our fellow man. History, and a quick look at our fashionable culture will quickly point to the fact that everyone wants to be noticed. People want power, respect and ultimately we want attention. There is one huge problem with this though. We were not made to call attention to ourselves, we were made to call attention to God by reflecting his glory. I am amazed at my own sin nature's ability to stealthily curtail the praise of men for Chad and not God.

Before I was saved, it was real obvious as I was in just as lost as could be and loudly and rebelliously drew attention to me. After I was saved, this desire to elevate myself cloaked itself a little bit as I wanted to gain positions of power in the Church. Even now as God blesses me so immensely, I have to battle the urge to ever so gently steal His glory as I teach and preach His word. Only through prayer and intentional confession am I able to see how huge a sin that glory grabbing is and how easy it can grab you. It is safe to assume that I spend more than a little time fighting my flesh and repenting in this area before God's throne.

When you put our sin nature on the operating table and shine the light on it, its desire is to master us by elevating ourselves instead of God. This is what Paul is addressing specifically in terms of salvation in Romans 10. He says that his fellow Jews were trying to establish a man made righteousness. They wanted to invent a way in which they were both the justifier and judge of their own moral eternity. They had falsely elevated themselves to a position of power in which they had no authority or right to do. There are striking similarities between the fate of those who try to elevate their own righteousness to the level of Jesus and those who try to stay on top of Mt. Everest too long.

They shrivel up and die. Why? God did not design them to be in that position in the first place. He did not design you our Me to elevate ourselves either. Are you?

Praise God for Jesus and His grace for those who repent and call on His name!