Reading: Genesis 11:1-9 and Matthew 6:25-34
- In this week’s readings there are two different building projects depicted, two different kingdoms being built. The plain in the land of Shinar is the bedrock for what would become Babylon (Gen.11:1; Daniel 1:2). From Gen.11:1-9 and Matt. 6:25-34, what do you hear, what do you understand, what differences do you discern about these two building projects? Consider the outcomes of each: the city of men, the Kingdom of God.
- In what areas of life are you most prone to echo the cries of autonomous living (self-governing, acting independently, Gen.11:3-4): to secure future outcomes or propagate personal agendas? Where does this kind of living leave you? How does it affect your relationships with others? What happens to your well-being or peace of mind?
- What would it look like for you to seek to live in and operate from the Kingdom of God – with God rather than living by your self?
- Take some moments in prayer. Ask God to help you identify where the dominion of the “self” is still largely at work in your life: building, ordering, or reigning supreme. One way of getting at this is to discern what frustrates you most; or looking at your response to interruptions at work or in your daily life; or examining what happens within you when you don’t get what you want or things go “your way”? Ask for the courage to seek God: his ways and his rule over all the matters and concerns of your life.