By Todd Paetznick, November 21, 2024

I can’t remember my great-grandfather’s name. Over a hundred years ago, he and my grandmother made the tray featured in the image for today’s blog post.

Building and leaving a legacy for one’s children is a way that some people choose so that their names will live on and be remembered after they are gone.  Others seek to establish a legacy that extends to their community, country, and, in some cases, the world.  Through hard work, luck, or a little of both, the names of a few people live after them.  The legacy may be a family’s wealth, a scholarship, a building, a memorial statue, a law, a company, a mention in history books, or something else.  However, the Christ-follower needs to be wary of seeking personal glory; it is not something we should pursue.

In the ancient world, people in leadership built monuments to ensure they would be remembered.  The Egyptians have some of the most significant monuments.  The great pyramids and richly appointed tombs stand out as examples of attempts to be remembered.  King Tut (Tutankhamun) is one of the better-known Egyptian kings in our modern world.  He was buried with great riches, but few know anything about his life or accomplishments.  In Babylon, Daniel recorded the events surrounding King Nebuchadnezzar’s commissioning of a statue to honor himself, but his accomplishments are not remembered.  The great emperors of Rome have names we may recognize from Bible stories and movies, but even their achievements and lives are seldom remembered.  

One of the earliest recorded instances of people attempting to make a name for themselves is found in the book of Genesis.  A few generations after Noah’s flood, a man known to us as Nimrod led the people in rebellion against God.  They wanted to “make a name for themselves” by building a tower that would reach the heavens (Genesis 11:4).  The Tower of Babel was the monument to themselves for which they would be remembered.  The name “Nimrod,” as written in Genesis, may not be real.  In the genealogies of Noah found Genesis 10:8-10, Nimrod is mentioned as “a mighty hunter before the Lord.”  Some scholars believe a more accurate rendering of the passage should be  “Nimrod, the tyrannical opponent of YHWH.”   https://christiananswers.net/dictionary/nimrod.html.  Nimrod means “rebel” which is what he did, not who he was.  Ironically, Nimrod’s acts of rebellion against God resulted in his actual name being forgotten.  

Glorify God, Not Ourselves

God wants His name and reputation to be honored and glorified.  A human desire to receive glory and fame instead of God is representative of the kind of sin that surrounded the people at Babel, led by Nimrod.  Our temptation to seek personal glory and not give God the glory and honor He is due.  Building a name for ourselves and establishing a reputation that does not credit God for His role in our success is prideful and morally wrong.  On the other hand, humility acknowledges that our achievements, success, and status in life are made possible by God.  

In the book of Second Samuel, David prays, 

“For this reason You are great, Lord GOD; for there is no one like You, and there is no God except You, according to all that we have heard with our ears. And what one nation on the earth is like Your people Israel, whom God went to redeem for Himself as a people, and to make a name for Himself, and to do a great thing for You and awesome things for Your land, because of Your people whom You have redeemed for Yourself from Egypt, [from other] nations and their gods” (2 Samuel 7:22-23 NASB20)?

David correctly recognized God’s role in Israel’s history.  His attitude is a model of proper humility as he acknowledges God’s role in protecting, delivering, and making great the tiny nation of Israel.  Though improbable, Israel’s existence and greatness were due to God’s involvement.  God’s name was made great.

How Quickly We Forget.

The image used in this blog post is of a tray made by my grandmother and her father around 1915. If we ever wonder what people did during long northern winters before electricity, indoor plumbing, and the Internet, the making of this tray is an example. The technique is called inlay, which involves cutting and laying different varieties of wood in geometric designs.  If you get this post as an email, you may need to visit the FaithNet website to see the image: https://faithnetconnect.org/faithnet-blog-archive/.  

My great-grandfather’s name was August Zimmerman, but I had to look it up.  His daughter, my grandmother, Esther, worked on inlaid wood projects, like the one pictured, during the long Minnesota winters in the early 1900s.  It is humbling to realize that few of our names will be remembered by our descendants only a couple of generations from now.  God is great.  His name and reputation will be great forever.