Seeds For Thinking

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

Scripture: Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for
“God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” (1 Peter 5:5 b,NKJV)
It is not often that you enter a ‘skyscraper’ building from the top, and go down. Yet, I have done just that! The Pan Am Building in New York City, finished in 1963, was at that time the largest commercial office building in the world. And it had the novel feature of offering helicopter service between New York’s major airports to a heliport on the roof of the building. I experienced the thrill of flying over the city, looking down upon the roofs, and watching as we proceeded to land on the top of that skyscraper.
One of the “Superman” movies used the same scenario, but I am glad to relate that we didn’t need the ‘Man of Steel’ on my landing.
The building was later sold to Metropolitan Life Insurance, and helicopter flights were discontinued.
I have also ascended the Empire State Building, in New York City, and the Sears Tower in Chicago - by more conventional means. Though each building once ranked among the tallest buildings in the world, newer construction dwarfs even these majestic towers.
While it might seem appropriate to make some reference here to a more ancient “heaven reaching” tower, (that of Babel in Genesis 11,) I think that the reasoning for these modern towers has little to do with partaking of the power and glory of God, and more to do with making money. Lots of money!
As tall, as gigantic as these skyscrapers may be, there are two basic principles that make their construction possible. First - the taller the building, the deeper the foundation. Second - the buildings are designed to be flexible. They sway with a strong wind, and are engineered to withstand earthquakes. The well engineered building can stand with integrity; When the testing comes, they stand.
Humility is not something that you generally associate with a skyscraper. Something that seems to stand so tall and proud would not seem to be related to modest pretensions or dimensions, one of the definitions of humble. In fact, many of the definitions for ‘humble’ or ‘humility’ suggest low social, administrative, or political rank. But I also find elements more in line with the humility espoused in the Bible: self-effacing, unassertive; unpresuming, modest, unassuming. Humility, in my view, is not an indicator of shallowness, rather, the taller the building, the deeper the foundation.
So, too, personal humility is deeply rooted in moral and spiritual bedrock. Humility in God flexes when the winds of controversy swirl. The true leader does not “lord it over” others, is not mean or vindictive. They are not puffed up, nor ostentatious. The shallow roots of popular opinion will not hold when truth and justice come forth, but God will give grace to the humble.
We read of the destruction of poorly designed, shoddily built, inflexible buildings with inadequate foundations, often hastily built and boldly promoted to the monetary benefit of the owner. Are they then proud of the calamity and ruin for which they are responsible?
Lives and careers, also, collapse when the testing comes. Selfish ambition and conceit are counter to true humility.
God will give grace to the humble who are rooted deeply in moral and spiritual values. “Christ humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death.” (Philippians 2:8)