Now the whole world had one language… Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a 
tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth…”The LORD said… Come, let us go down and confuse their language...” So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building… (Genesis 11:1-8 – NIV).
I’ve been frustrated lately over an inconsistency in a spiritual discipline in my life. For months, I’d been regularly engaging a sacred habit that was helping me grow; then I fell off the wagon.
A pattern soon developed: I’d intend to do the discipline; fail to do it; and then feel guilty about not doing it. Intend; fail; feel guilty… Intend; fail; feel guilty…
Ever experienced that?
A couple of days ago, I woke up in the “feel guilty” phase. I mentally berated myself for being too immature and too distracted to be faithful to God in this area.
Then this occurred to me:
Mark, you’re building a tower of Babel. You’re trying to construct a spiritual life by your own efforts. You think if you can work hard enough at spirituality you’ll get so close to God that nothing will sway you and your life will be perfect and safe.
Ouch.
The problem isn’t my desire to incorporate a powerful spiritual discipline into my life; that’s a good thing. It isn’t even that I feel the pain of missing the mark.
The problem is that I’ve been acting as if I can reach God by sheer willpower; and when that proves inadequate, instead of falling into the grace of God and admitting defeat so he can help me regroup, I just keep trying harder.
And harder.
Building that tower of Babel one brick at a time.
Why did the people in Genesis want to build a tower that reached to heaven?
So they would be thought of as wise and successful. So they could pride themselves on their accomplishments. And so if God sent another flood, they’d be safe – in their tall tower.
Self-righteousness is a deadly and damning sin. It’s constructing something that looks spiritual, but is actually thoroughly dishonoring to God. It’s the delusion that we can reach heaven with human hands and see God with earthly eyes… instead of the truth that we remain light years away apart from his invigorating power. Self-righteousness is safe-righteousness; instead of the risky kind Christ calls us to receive and reflect.
Thankfully, God loves me (and you) enough to allow us to experience sufficient frustration when we get like this that we finally stop building towers... and embrace the unsafe but infinitely rewarding reality of living life scattered about at sea level.
This isn’t to let me or you or anyone off the hook for a life that isn’t spiritually oriented. It’s just an invitation to tear down our towers and fall into the grace of God. Because if we’re going to be spiritual it’ll take the work of the Spirit, not just the hard work of self.
To learn more about Mark and Susan Johnston and their work, go towww.yourjourney.tv
