In 1989 I went off to college as an eighteen-year-old to Liberty University to become a young champion for Christ, as Dr Jerry Falwell would say, and be great for God. What I didn’t realize then, thirty-six years ago, I realize now as a fifty-four-year-old man: my ambition may have been more selfish than noble; my goal may have been more misguided than godly. If the truth be told, I wanted to be great for God. I don’t know that I wanted God to be great in me as much as I wanted to be great for God.
When I was a freshman at Liberty, I made a commitment to read the Bible 10 chapters a day. I am now in my 107th reading of the Bible. Recently I began this new reading of the Scriptures and came across Genesis 11:1-9:
“Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2 And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” 5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. 6 And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech.” 8 So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth."
Toward the beginning of time humanity wanted to make a name for themselves. If the truth be told, when I went off to college, I wanted to make a name for myself. I wanted to be famous for God. But did I want God to be famous in me? Maybe! But I for sure wanted to be famous for God. Certainly, there are worse things to be famous for. But I have learned along the way that my desire to make a name for myself is futile, vain, and unproductive to the advancement of God’s Kingdom on earth.
Not only that, but it is offensive to God, and thus led to God sending a spirit of confusion over the lives of the people of Babel so that they were dispersed and unable to do what they wanted to do, which was making a name for themselves.
But God makes it clear in the book of Isaiah: He will give His glory to no one; He will share His glory with no one.
Isaiah 48:10 - 11 says, (God talking) “Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. 11 For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.”
It is an offense to God for us as His creation to seek to make a name for ourselves so that we can share the glory that only belongs to Him.
God brings confusion and affliction into our lives to get our attention because our reputation cannot support His glory. When our reputation tries to contain His glory or take credit for His glory in us and through us, it only leads to self-destruction. It is not power that destroys us. It is the power of God that we take credit for that ultimately destroys us because we can’t handle it.
God addressed the seven churches in Revelation and each of them had a character flaw or character trait that needed confronting. The same is true of us as followers of Jesus. The church of Sardis really loved their reputation over true godly character. Listen to what God said to the church of Sardis through John the Beloved,
Revelation 3:1, “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. ‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2 Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. 3 Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you.”
Reputation is how others perceive you. Character is who you are and how God knows you.
The church of Sardis was like the people of Babel. They wanted to make a name for themselves. But the desire to make a name for yourself is not from God. The desire to make Jesus’ famous with your name is from God. Maybe you are disappointed that you have not made “a name for yourself” for God. Count yourself blessed by God!
Confusion and affliction are the constant state of your life if you live to make a name for yourself, even if that name is supposedly for God.
God does not want you to make a name for yourself. Matter a fact He made it really clear to Jeremiah in Jeremiah 45:5, “And do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not …”
God confused the people at the Tower of Babel because they wanted to make a name for themselves. Now lest you think God is insecure, just one chapter later God comes to Abram and says in Genesis 12:1: “Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.”
God calls Abram and tells him to go from his father’s house to the land He would show him. And by the way, at this time he had no idea where that land was or what would be involved in the going. But God gave Abram a promise. If Abram would obey and go, God would bless him and make his name great. Why? So that Abram could be a blessing.
If the truth be told, I wanted to make a name for myself at 18 so that I could feel like I mattered in this world. Whereas God told me to go like Abram, to leave my dad’s house and land, which I did. I left the motherland of Glasgow, Kentucky, and went even further to Colorado to plant Vanguard Church with the Southern Baptist Convention. And there I have lived the last three decades of my life with my wife, Tosha.
Like Abram in Genesis 12:4, “We went, as the Lord told us.” We have raised five of our own children and now have four additional children-in-law and four grandchildren. We have been fruitful and multiplied. We have lived out God’s calling on our lives in Colorado like Abram did in the land of Canaan.
Abram pitched his tent East of Bethel, which means house of God, and built an altar to God. Genesis 12:8 says, “he called upon the name of the Lord.”
Abram understood his calling was from God. He understood that his worship was in the name of the Lord. Abram lived to call on the name of the Lord instead of making a name for himself. How about you?
If we respond to God’s calling and make His name the focus, He will take care of making our name great so that we can be a blessing to others for Him.
See, my desire at eighteen was not all bad, just misguided. And over the last thirty-six years God has brought confusion and affliction into my life so that I could learn to let go of wanting to make a name for myself and simply live to make His name famous to others.
God allows confusion and affliction to get our attention in our calling from Him to purify our motives so that His glory can shine through us to others and they can receive blessings from Him through us.
Whose name are you living for? Live to make Jesus famous and trust Him to make your name what it needs to be so you can be a blessing to others in His name.
I love this quote from D.L. Moody, "If I take care of my character, my reputation will take care of itself."
Let go of your reputation and watch God develop your character.
And by the way, God changed Abram’s name to Abraham, and in that name change, he became a great nation for God. Through Jesus, so can you.
