Technology: the Downfall of Humanity?

Genesis 11: It all started with bricks. Gensis 11:3-4 says, "Then they said to one another, 'Come, let us make bricks and back them thoroughly.' They had brick for stone, and they had aspahalt form ortar. And they said, 'Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower whose top is in the heavens;" If you know the story, you know that the Tower of Babel came next. And as a result of man's attitude and actions, God "confused the language of all the earth; and from there scattered them over teh face of all the earth." (11:9)

I studied this passage, tracing the events backwards, and I wondered if anyone at that time sat and blamed it on those silly bricks. "If only they hadn't invented those 'brick' things. That's what happens when you try to do something new--you mess up what you've got. The bricks are to blame for the evil and difficulty we have now!" It sounds so foolish. We know that the consequences of God had nothing to do with the makeshift stones. It was a response to the attitude within the hearts of the bricklayers. And yet we do that all the time--blame our own circumstances on the "evolution" of the world around us.

We blame television and movies for the corruption in our kids. We blame computers for our laziness and lack of real relationships. How many times have you heard someone go on about the "state of the world today" and lay the burden of responsibility on the latest advancement? Lemme tell you friends, God makes it clear that THINGS have nothing to do with the circumstances of our lives. God does not respond to the THINGS in our lives. He responds to our lives. Our Creator know that laziness is not born of the internet, but of our own hardened hearts. He sees the corruption inside us and knows it grows from our own sinful nature. We need to stop blaming the world around us for the sin we see and recognize that it comes solely from within.

That's the moment we turn our hearts--heavy, dark, lazy, corrupt, etc--over to an ever-loving, ever-forgiving God who wil take it and make it new again. God is the source of life and love. Because that is His nature, He can use the THINGS in our lives to do beautiful things. We see that when our hearts are beautiful in Him as well.