Christian Living

Making A Name For Ourselves

by Travis Darnell
08/12/17
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            Nearly since the beginning of time, man has been running from God and to make a name for himself. Man was “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14, NKJ) by God and man has flourished intellectually, financially, etc., but has come oh so short as to what God had originally intended for us, to flourish spiritually in Him. Thank God that He has left mankind with an aching abyss that we can never satisfy but through Jesus Christ.

            In Genesis Chapter 11, man went about their lives much as we do today, trying to find meaning and purpose for our lives on our own terms, without God. So God scattered man from each other. But we are a stiff-necked people and we continue to try. Why is this? Because at all costs, most people would rather face anything than the cross. The cross tells us the truth about ourselves and the only place to find the Truth. But many a man loves darkness rather than light (See John 3:19), so we go on globally, nationally and individually, trying to concoct some sort of meaning and purpose for our lives, again, ignoring the true meaning of life, God.

            Coming to the cross of Jesus Christ means repentance and facing the real truth about ourselves; that we are sinful, hopelessly lost, everything you have built yourself up to be will all dissolve in the end, and your life is futile and meaningless apart from the purposes of God. When a person faces the cross of Jesus Christ, that person will come to realize that any meaning or purpose of life apart from God’s meanings and purposes for their life, is all but meaningless and purposeless in the end. If a person looks at the cross of Christ and does not change their perspective on life, then they have missed its meaning. “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul” (Matthew 16:26, NKJ). But if a person does come to see the true meaning of the cross of Christ, then all traditions, all blaming, all our virtue, all our goodness, and as much as anything else, all of our meanings and purposes for our lives come to a screeching halt. We get to take up God’s meaning and purpose for us and for the first time we come to know something that we have never known before, truth, and this truth should set us free to take up what is really lasting, meaningful and certainly will not dissolve in the end, God’s will as it is all explained in the Bible. Take God’s will as your own for your life and you will never lack meaning or purpose in your life.

            We as mankind relish being our own individual selves and living out life as we want, without God. And again, in Genesis 11, God shows us that man was unified as one, but that unification was built up on mankind, not on God. When we trust in ourselves or mankind, when the storms of life come, we find we have no strong foundation and quickly go under. The only place to turn is to the great foundation, Jesus Christ. There is no truth, meaning or purpose for a person’s life apart from accepting Jesus as Savior and Lord, and then following Him to carry out His purposes and meanings for life. Everything else is nothing but a deceptive lie.

            But by the mercies of God, He did the one thing that man feared the most, He confused and scattered them. If we are living a life for ourselves and not for God, or we know someone else who is (and of course we all do), then sometimes the greatest gift and most tender mercy God can ever give is a personal catastrophe or tragedy. If you come to know Christ as your Lord and Savior through a personal tragedy or calamity, then be thankful, even though the consequences maybe great “It is better for you to enter life maimed” (Mark 9:43, NKJ). Because often times it is the only way God can get our attention. Never build a life without God, but rather build a life for God. Make your heart a habitat for Him.