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“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; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth’” (Genesis 11: 4).

I’m very career-focused, sometimes to a fault.  I don’t want to just be good at my job, I want to be the best. These last few weeks, I’ve put a lot of energy into traveling for work and meeting with key accounts.  And while those meetings have led to many breakthroughs for work, feelings of greatness weren’t quick to follow. I realized I may have more in common with these ancient builders in the book of Genesis that I thought.  

In Genesis 11, we find that the people of the world came together to create a magnificent building project.  They wanted to build the best city with the highest tower so that they would be remembered as the greatest people of all time.  Not through God, but through themselves would they accomplish greatness!  

God saw this, and he knew where it was going to end.  No matter how high these people built, or how great they thought their city was, it would never be enough.  They would never reach the heavens.  Their city would never be a solution to all their problems.  God knew that by chasing these worldly means to be “the best”, they would become frustrated, angry, and fractured.  What these people thought would make them great was only going to lead to disaster.  

Of course, being great at your job is a good thing. Being politically informed is important.  Connecting with people on Facebook or Twitter is wonderful. Having the world at your fingertips via your smart phone is amazing.  But once such things become towers of our own greatness that we obsess over, they take us off the path that God sets out.  This leads us to fractured relationships and not the happiness that God wants for us.

I’m recalling my own fractures this week, created by overly focusing on building my tower to honor my work, instead of to honor God.   After returning from my business trip, I was a little short with my wife.  I ignored my son, who was proud to show me that he had gotten the Wordle in three tries.  I didn’t have the energy to play games with my youngest.  This week was an important reminder that I constantly need to be focused on the path God is calling me to and avoid being led astray by laying down bricks in a tower to my own greatness.

Where has a good thing in your life turned into an unhealthy obsession? Is there a spot in your life where you’re pushing away God to add more bricks to that tower? Take time this week to step back and reflect on how you can make sure that what you’re building in life starts with God as the foundation – and the goal.