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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… (Genesis 11:4a).

Of all the Connect Devotional themes I’ve delved into, this Tower of Babel one saddened me the most. At least at first.

Here is a scenario from the primeval years of mankind’s existence that has played out in every generation throughout history and is still tragically playing out across the world to this very day. 

Not only has it played out community-wide as it did in the Tower of Babel story. It continually plays out worldwide, nationwide, statewide, institution-wide, group-wide, family-wide and within every individual.

“Let us (do this thing),” says humanity, “so that we may make a name for ourselves,”. 

Since the universal scope of the problem was all too much for me to grapple with, I am hereby just grappling with the root of the problem, which is us—the culpable ones. Us, the ones with the make-a-name-for-ourselves compulsion.

To be fair, not all of us elbow others aside or insist on being “the bride at every wedding, the corpse at every funeral…” We don’t all cajole others to give us the recognition we crave. We don’t all claim credit where credit isn’t due. 

Yet, if we’re honest, we want to be noticed. We want to be well-thought-of, or at least thought-of. We want to be given accolades, or at least be thanked by someone, anyone. 

If we’re bad, we want to get credit from the other bad guys for being bad. If we’re good, we want credit from the other good guys for being good.

In other words, there’s that subterranean drive within each of us to make a name for ourselves. The name options are innumerable: Dependable. Flamboyant. Energetic. Sincere. Ruthless. Clever…. ad infinitum.

That drive can drive us to fracture our own selves and our relationships with others, leaving us and them exhausted, unmoored, bitter, despondent, miserable, lonely. 

But wait. There is an escape. It’s the relief that comes from deep-down-knowing that God has given us the name we all long for—the name that frees us from needing to make a name for ourselves.  Beloved. (I Jn.3:2a NKJ, e.g.)

With that new name, we can take our place within ourselves, family, group, institution, state, nation, and world in a settled, relaxed, God-and-other-focused freedom. This will be a great relief—to us, to others, and to our Father who has longed for us to embrace the name He has for us.

Let’s mull over what names we have tried to make—even succeeded in making—for ourselves. 

Let’s spend time with God to talk about His name for us, to let Beloved sink in, to experience the relief of knowing we already have such a name and don’t need those old ones, don’t need to try to make new ones.