Which Tower is Tallest?

1st Peter 5 says, beginning in verse 5:
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." 6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

Jesus said that the person who is greatest in the Kingdom is the one who comes to God as a little child - in childlike faith, we present ourselves before God and acknowledge our need for Him - in an age of self-reliance, we a truly a needy people that cannot address our individual sin problems, or the problems of living in a sinful culture, without His power and wisdom.

Some remarkable news from the site of the World Trade Center yesterday - the building that is being constructed to take its place surpassed the Empire State Building as the new tallest skyscraper in New York City...or did it?   The height of a tall building depends on whether or not you count the tower at the top - some would consider it a spire, and therefore part of the architecture, others would consider it a separate structure.   So, while the new World Trade Center hit 1250 feet yesterday, when you measure the Empire State Building:  from the sidewalk to the tip of its needle-like antenna, it actually stands 1,454 feet high, well above the mark reached by One World Trade Center on Monday.   The new World Trade Center, when you add a 408-foot-tall needle on the top, is slated to come in at 1776 feet.   If you don't count the tower/spire, the Willis Tower, formerly the Sears Tower, comes out on top.   Then, you have the 1800+-foot CN Tower in Toronto, which some don't even consider to be a building, but a large tower.   Nathaniel Hollister, a spokesman for The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitats said it best, quoted in the Huffington Post, "Height is complicated".  

Well, it's not so complicated when you approach the subject of a life that rises to the heights, a life of greatness, from a Biblical perspective.   Jesus talked about what it took to be great in the kingdom of heaven in Luke chapter 22...we read:
24 Now there was also a dispute among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest.  26 ...he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves. 27 For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves.  Jesus had said that He did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.  So, humility is a key component of greatness - we are not called to seek our own glory or call attention to ourselves, but to seek to bring glory to God, to make Him known, or famous.     And, humility is important from a national perspective - I believe our nation is great because it has humbled itself before God, depending on Him, and also reached out to bless other nations - our nation isn't there any more, but I believe we can still turn it around - that is why the National Day of Prayer is so important - remembering God's call to humble ourselves before Him and turn toward Him.    A tower at the World Trade Center can be a symbol of rebounding and rebuilding, but a spiritual response to the events of 9-11, which was, I believe, a wake-up call to America, is critical - I believed that we were made more aware to our vulnerabilities as a nation that day, and as we face a brutal and dangerous world, we need the provision - and the protection - of Almighty God.   The only way we'll find it is to humble ourselves before God and acknowledge our dependence.