What would you do if someone saved your life?
My guess is that totally disregarding what they said wouldn't be at the top of the list. But that's what happened in part of today's passage. God saved Noah and his family from a great flood. When it was all over, he told them, "Prosper! Reproduce! Fill the Earth!"
But instead of following the instructions to fill the earth, the people stuck together. They said:
"Come, let's build ourselves
a city
and a tower
that reaches Heaven.
Let's make ourselves famous
so we won't be scattered
here and there across the Earth."
Ouch. Not only were they totally disregarding God's instructions to spread out, they tried to make themselves famous.
I thought this was interesting in light of our culture today. Did you know that kids actually aspire to be famous? And not just for doing something (winning the World Series, singing, making a scientific discovery)--they dream of being famous just for the fame itself.
On a smaller scale, many people live for praise and approval. They want to be recognized, awarded, and publicly acknowledged for their work or their service. While I think there's absolutely nothing wrong with "giving honor where honor is due," I think there is something wrong with working, serving and striving to simply make yourself famous. It's wrong because it's an attempt to take full credit for someone else's work--in this case, God's work--in your life. No human being would be alive and breathing if it wasn't for Him.
Instead of disregarding God, let's honor Him--let's make God famous instead of attempting to be famous ourselves. There's a big difference...and it starts with having a heart to obey.
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