What Are You Building?

Take a quiz—How many of these people do you recognize: Owen D. Young; Pierre Laval, Hugh S. Johnson; James F. Byrnes; Mohammed Mossadegh; Harlow Curtice? These are not obscure names! Each one of these people were designated “Man of the Year” by Time magazine. The major criterion for being selected as “Man of the Year” is that they supposedly had the greatest impact of all persons living on the earth within a given year.


When it is all said and done, what will you have built that will last? The Scriptures contain many teachings warning us about chasing after the things of this world and how temporary they are. The author of Ecclesiastes uses the terms “vanity of vanities” (used 38 times) and “striving after wind” (used 7 times) to share his understanding of the futility of making things “under the sun” (used 29 times) the ultimate quest. His point, as he experiments with many different areas of life in a quest for the meaning of life, from the beginning of the book (1:2) to the end (12:8), is that a focus on the things of this world will always end with the same conclusion—“‘Vanity of vanities’, says the Preacher, ‘all is vanity!’” Any worldview that doesn’t rise above the horizon of man himself is a waste of time!


Mark Twain, shortly before he died, wrote the following:
A myriad of men are born; they labor and sweat and struggle; . . . they squabble and scold and fight; they scramble for little mean advantages over each other; age creeps upon them; infirmities follow; . . . those they love are taken from them, and the joy of life is turned to aching grief. It (the release) comes at last—the only unpoisoned gift earth ever had for them—and they vanish from a world where they were of no consequence, . . . a world which will lament them a day and forget them forever.


How sad to view life this way, but this is “under the sun” thinking! It is the very trap the builders of the Tower of Babel fell prey to. In a quest to make a name for themselves, they forgot the most important thing—the will of their God!


The one thing we have seen show up over and over again as we have studied who God is and what He wants is that God has a plan for everything! Man was removed from the Garden of Eden—God shared a plan for their ultimate return. Cain killed his brother and God started over through the lineage of Seth. When the genealogies of Cain and Seth intermarried and every thought of man became evil continually, He saved the world through the flood and showed His planning through Enoch and Lamech. Now, as the people build the Tower at Babel, He will once again show His planning and intention through a man we know as Abraham. Through all of this He will show the difference in man making a name for themselves and His making a name for us!
So, what do we use as a basis for meaning, value and significance? What have you done that you believe in and are proud of? What will survive the test of time? Perhaps Paul’s words to the Corinthians provide a perspective we should consider:


According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building upon it. But let each man be careful how he builds upon it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds upon the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it, because it is to be revealed with fire; and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. (I Cor. 3:10-13)


Have you thought about whether what you are spending your time and energy upon will even last? Are you striving to make a name for yourself, or will you trust God to make your legacy? WHAT ARE YOU BUILDING?



To listen to sermon, click Making a Name for Yourself.