…the master of all I survey
My mother just celebrated her 93rd birthday. She is in stage 4 congestive heart failure. Scoliosis, along with a raging case of polio as a young woman, left her back a twisted mess. Her kidneys are exhausted after nearly a century of reliable service. High blood pressure, high cholesterol, some skin cancer, and a big toe full of gout. Add to that, a few weeks ago, she tripped on her oxygen tube and broke her shoulder.
That said, if you were to meet her in person — other than the arm in a sling — you’d probably never know anything else was wrong. Why? Because her existence hangs on the power of her character. No self-indulgence. No complaints. Dedicated to service. At 93, she still tutors kids and knits slippers for children that don’t have any. Her spirit is indestructible.
In a micro sense, that is the empire of a life. And looking from a macro perspective, all the empires of the world could take a lesson from her. The powerful “Babylons” throughout history, fall, one after another like dominoes, because the very foundation upon which they are built cannot endure. But fallen empire after fallen empire, the persistent falls of mankind throughout — God’s kingdom only becomes stronger.
The powerful Persian empire expanded from what is now Iran all the way to Egypt. Alexander the Great steamrolled right over it, but not before Cyrus allowed the Jews there to return to their homeland.
God’s kingdom advanced through Alexander’s ambition — giving us the Greek language and Greek roads which laid the foundation for the later spread of the Gospel.
Rome, the Great Babylon, swallowed Greece, and what remained of Persia (Parthia) constant conflict throughout, while Christian saints and missionaries walked the 250,000 miles of Roman roads, protected by the Pax Romana.
Rome crumbled, giving way to the legal frameworks, the organizational principles of the British empire. And here we are, living in empire whose history is still being written. The hand of God continues to work — implosion or not — and remains to be seen.
Each of these empires, as Babylon, has inflicted upon itself its own mortal wounds that destroy a culture from the inside out: moral decadence, greed, outsourcing hard work to others, and a persistent hubris (ironically a Greek word*). It is a foundation that will necessarily crumble.
*In ancient Greek, “hubris” (ὕβρις) translates to “pride, insolence, outrage”, and it generally refers to excessive pride or arrogance, often in defiance of the gods or nature,
which ultimately leads to downfall.
On a micro level, that same hand of God is working through our own lives. My mother’s spiritual strength dominates the weakness in her body. Her example reminds me that taking the spotlight off myself, and instead, focusing on others, is how the Babylon of my own heart will implode; and my true strength will be found — not through career attainment and bank accounts — but through vulnerability and service modeled by the heart of Jesus.
by Carie Grant
