A man and his tower

            There was once a man who decided to build a tower to the glory of God. It was going to be taller than any other building around, standing out from the landscape. It would be masterfully designed and constructed using the finest materials. At night it would light up in spectacular fashion. It was going to enhance the vista. Everyone would notice it, and people would even travel from miles around to come and see this grand tower. To be sure everyone knew that the tower was for the Lord, the Name of Jesus would be writ large across its face for all the world to see.

            It was a great undertaking, and the man was eager to get started. He was so excited for everyone to see this tower completed. So, when the architects and foremen, and the financiers came to him to lay out the plans, and discuss how to build the tower he told them just to get started right away. They did. At first things went well. The whole community took note as the site was prepared and beams began to rise, and concrete began to be poured. Everyone watched as shipments of marble, and fine hardwoods came in.

            It was not long however, before the builders ran into some difficulty. The work slowed down. The man was faced with a tough problem. But he couldn’t stand to see the progress retarded. So, he told the builders to move on to something else while he figured out what to do about things. The work went on in this way for some time.

            The tower reached higher and higher, finally reaching high enough for all to see. But what they saw was a mess of a tower its various parts in disarray. In places the raw beams stilled showed, in others even the façade had been erected. It looked ridiculous. And then the work came to a sudden halt. The man was outraged; he demanded to know why they had stopped work on his tower with it in such a sorry state. They told him simply that the money had run out. “But this tower was to be for God’s glory!” The man exclaimed. “Oh, no worries about that sir, we made sure and put His name up there just as you wanted.” With that all the workers left.

            Everyone saw this tower. Some shook their heads at it in disbelief, others in disgust. Some mocked the man and his tower, and a few wept openly. Then one night a storm blew up, and in an instance the tower fell. The man knelt by the wreckage in anguish and raised his eyes to Heaven, “Oh, Lord why didn’t you provide for this tower to be built to Your glory?”

            Suddenly the man felt a hand on his shoulder and turned. To his astonishment it was the Lord. The man asked again, “Lord why didn’t you provide for the tower.” The Lord looked on the man with pity and replied, “I did provide, all you needed and more, only you never asked me for it.” The man was stunned. “I thought I had all I needed, and everything started off so well…” He fell silent unable to continue. Then the Lord spoke again, “Oh man, did I not tell you to count the cost.”

Luke 14:27-30

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