Note: From, Pastoring for Monday (InterVarsity Press, 2026). Reprinted by permission of the publisher. Citations have been omitted.
The Babel Building Project
When I was young, the tower of Babel (Genesis 11) was one of my favorite Bible stories – though I now see, as is often the case in childhood, that the message of the story completely eluded me. This Bible passage gives a profound look at how work goes wrong – not only on an individual basis but corporately as well – when a large group of image bearers neglect, knowingly or not, God’s original cultural mandate to keep and cultivate his world.
The story of the tower of Babel is short but potent. A group of people, on a plain called Shinar, decided they wanted to build an entire city with a signature tower in the center that would reach into the heavens. The scope of the project and the leadership involved suggest it would function like a modern-day building company, with hundreds or perhaps thousands of workers. These builders were technologically advanced, with plans to build not with stone (as was the custom in their day) but with brick, which by itself would require a massive workforce. (Did that original audience, brick-making Israelite slaves in Egypt, groan as they read the narrative, remembering their own back pain?) The narrator gives us a window into their grand ambitions: “Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth’” (Genesis 11:4).
And that is all we hear from the Babel Building Company – like a brief statement put out by management for the local business journal. But this one little quote, if we have eyes to see it, shows what can go wrong when people work together on a project. It is the complete reversal of the cultural mandate God had originally given to his creatures.
Two important warnings stand out.
When work makes us feel like God. Work leads to misplaced identity when it becomes a path for transcendence rather than service.
Let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens. (Genesis 11:4)
On the surface, the Babel tower looks like nothing more than an ambitious building project. A local municipality wants to build a tower they can be proud of. A closer look reveals that the Babel tower gives us a depiction of the broken organization – a large-scale building project that demonstrates image bearing gone wrong.
In the ancient Near East, people built high towers or high places called ziggurats. They were places where people could worship. People tried to get closer to the gods so they might come down to them. But this tower of Babel is much more ambitious – it’s not being built so that the gods can come down and meet people. They want to build the tower with its top all the way into the heavens. These people believe they are like the gods – their work would give them transcendence and power.
…When any company’s workforce becomes so enamored with its ability to change the world for the better, or in our own work we show unbridled enthusiasm beyond what is reasonable, an old story takes on new meaning. Grandiose ambitions are a warning sign that identity among workers has gone wrong.
A related symptom of misplaced identity shows up in the Babel story.
When work becomes fuel for ego. Work leads to a misplaced identity when it provides fuel for ego, and workers become preoccupied with their public image.
Let us make a name for ourselves. (Genesis 11:4 ESV)
At a surface level, it sounds like the people of Babel were wanting to be known for their impressive tower, to be feared and respected by other nations for what their hands built. But there is good reason that the original readers also heard something else.
In the Bible, there is another significant “let us make” that the original readers of Genesis would have already heard. That phrase, “Let us make” in Hebrew (naaseh; first-person plural of asah), only occurs one other time in Genesis – back in Genesis 1, when God said, “Let us make humans in our image” (Genesis 1:26 NRSVUE, italics added). But now the people are saying, “Let us make a name for ourselves.”
The irony is that when God said, “Let us make humans in our image,” he was conferring the highest dignity on humankind. It was a statement that our work would show who God is, demonstrating his beauty, justice, grace and creativity.
But now the author of Genesis introduces a very different “let us make”; the people are speaking like God, except they have a different plan. Their making is now going to be about their own name, not a reflection of who God is. The tower of Babel project was being led by egocentric leaders who were more concerned with their reputation and status than the flourishing of their workers and good of their city.
Untethered Identity
How would we even know if we were placing our identity in our work and not anchoring our labors in Christ? Are there clues? After all, it can be hard to know if we’ve crossed an imaginary line of not tethering our identity and our work in God, his love for us and our status as children of God. Here are some themes and statements that might indicate we have misplaced our identity in our work.
Emotional volatility. When work is going well, everything else in my life feels stable. If I fail or experience frustration or letdown in my work, I’m crushed and it’s hard for me to let it go or stop thinking about it.
Unlimited accessibility. Work is consistently allowed to interrupt everything else in my life. Wherever I am, wherever I go, I need to be able to have access to my work because I must respond quickly.
Fear. The idea of resting from my work is scary because I feel like I will lose momentum or lose ground on others. I’m always running and can’t stop. It’s going well right now, but if I let up even a little bit, I will hear it from my supervisors/team/customers.
Resentment. It’s hard for me to feel happy about the success of others in their work because I feel like it should have been me, and I’m just falling behind. I’ve poured everything into my job and have been tireless in making things happen, and what do I get for it? I’m looked over and don’t receive the recognition I should.
Lack of empowerment. I’m just going to have to handle this project. If I give it to someone else, they will mess it up. I’m the only one who can do it right.
Work – like few other things and because it requires so much of our time, effort, hopes and relationships – can become central in our lives. All the other facets of our lives become anchored in it. Rather than serving as a spoke, it becomes the hub. How can this be put right?
Anchored in Christ
Jesus Christ, and our identity as children of God, is the only hub that can bear the weight of our other relationships and commitments. It grounds our work, so it exists in its proper place. Our work can actually become anchored, centered on Christ, instead of on our own name. Every once in a while, you see this on display.
Each spring, I love watching the Masters golf tournament. It’s really the only golf tournament I watch all year. In April of 2022, a young golfer who had never won a major championship rose to the top, and showed remarkable poise, to win his first Masters championship. His name was Scottie Scheffler. Scottie went on to become the number-one ranked golfer in the world, and would hold that spot for over 113 weeks.
After he won his first Masters Tournament, an interviewer asked him how he stayed calm and what his mindset was going into the final round. His answer gave a picture of what it means to anchor our identity and our work in Christ.
The reason why I play golf is because I am trying to glorify God and all that he has done in my life. So for me, my identity isn’t a golf score. Like Meredith [his wife] told me this morning, “If you win this golf tournament today, if you lose this golf tournament by 10 shots, if you never win another golf tournament again, I’m still going to love you, you’re still the same person, Jesus loves you and nothing changes” (Jon Ackerman, “Scottie Scheffler Wins Masters”).
In a golf tournament where your name is literally rising and falling with your golf score, Scottie Scheffler said, “That isn’t why I play golf.”
Now most of us aren’t professional athletes working out our identity on television. We are nurses, teachers, restaurant servers, pastors, engineers, scientists, receptionists and people in sales roles. We are stay-at-home parents or retirees who have opportunities to volunteer or work without pay. But perhaps this week, or even later today, there will be a situation at work that calls into question what is at the center of our lives. Scottie said, “I’m not my golf score.” We can all use a phrase like that:
• “I’m not my sales goal.”
• “I’m not my grade point average.”
• “I’m not my sermon.”
• “I’m not my latest mistake, and I’m not my latest success.”
• “Jesus loves me, and I am a child of God. Nothing can change that.”
Now, the irony is that anchoring our identity in Christ – with him as the central hub of our lives – can actually make us better workers, even though that isn’t our primary motivation for finding our identity in Christ. We should find our identity in Christ whether it helps us in work or not. And yet, finding our identity in Christ can be incredibly helpful.
• It will enable you to be more emotionally secure and stable at work – because you can accept criticism without being crushed.
• It will lead you to be more humble because you can accept praise without letting it go to your head. No one wants to work with an arrogant, self-centered jerk. If your name isn’t on the line, you are set free to be humble.
• It can bring an others-first mentality, because it’s not all about your name, which is actually an incredibly valuable posture in the workplace. You can grow in self-forgetfulness, not worrying about your reputation but set free to promote others, even as you do your work with excellence.
In fact, this issue of finding your identity in Christ can make or break your work life. The best job with a misplaced identity will destroy you. The worst job with your identity rooted in Christ can be deeply meaningful. Every job has purpose when you know who you are.
Adapted from Pastoring for Monday by Matt Rusten. Copyright (c) 2026 by Matthew Rusten. Used by permission of InterVarsity Press. www.ivpress.com
Matthew Rusten, president, Made to Flourish and editor in chief, Common Good magazine
