{"id":35979,"date":"2023-02-16T10:54:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-16T10:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/other-skyscrapers-fall-short-of-burj-khalifa\/"},"modified":"2023-02-16T10:54:00","modified_gmt":"2023-02-16T10:54:00","slug":"other-skyscrapers-fall-short-of-burj-khalifa","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/other-skyscrapers-fall-short-of-burj-khalifa\/","title":{"rendered":"Other Skyscrapers Fall Short of the Burj Khalifa"},"content":{"rendered":"

In his recent book, Paul Tripp describes a trip to the see world’s tallest skyscraper:<\/p>\n\n

\n

Wherever you go in Dubai, you are confronted with the Burj Khalifa the world's tallest building. Impressive skyscrapers are all around Dubai, but the Burj Khalifa looms over them all with majestic glory. At 2,716 feet (just over half a mile) it dwarfs buildings that would otherwise leave you in mouth-gaping awe. As you move around Dubai, you see all of these buildings and you say to yourself again and again, "How in the world did they build that?" But the Burj Khalifa is on an entirely other scale.<\/p>\n

Even from far away, it was hard to crank my head back far enough to see all the way to the top. The closer I got, the more imposing and amazing this structure became. As I walked, there was no thought of the other buildings in Dubai that had previously impressed me. As amazing as those build­ings were, they were simply not comparable in stunning architectural grandeur and perfection to this one.<\/p>\n

When I finally got to the base of the Burj Khalifa, I felt incredibly small, like an ant at the base of a light pole. I entered a futuristic looking elevator and, in what seemed like seconds, was on the 125th floor. This was not the top of the building, because that was closed to visitors. As I stepped to the windows to get a feel for how high I was and to scan the city of Dubai, I immediately commented on how small the rest of the buildings looked. Those "small" buildings were skyscrapers that, in any other city, would have been the buildings that you wanted to visit. They looked small, unimpressive, and not worthy of attention, let alone awe. I had experienced the greatest, which put what had impressed me before into proper perspective.<\/p>\n

By means of God's revelation of himself in Scripture, we see that there is no perfection like God's perfection. There is no holiness as holy as God's holiness. If you allow yourself to gaze upon his holiness, you will feel incredibly small and sinful. It is a good thing spiritually to have the assessments of your own grandeur decimated by divine glory.<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[433],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3455,3464,3816,3921,3946,3978,4154,4155,4176,4180,4244,4413,4414,4624,4625,4978,5180,5290,5305],"tax_ctp_topics":[388,395,397],"class_list":["post-35979","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-attributes-of-god","tax_ctp_tags-awakenings","tax_ctp_tags-divine-holiness","tax_ctp_tags-experiencing-god","tax_ctp_tags-fallen-nature","tax_ctp_tags-fear-of-god","tax_ctp_tags-holiness","tax_ctp_tags-holiness-of-god","tax_ctp_tags-human-condition","tax_ctp_tags-human-limitations","tax_ctp_tags-infinite-god","tax_ctp_tags-majesty","tax_ctp_tags-majesty-of-god","tax_ctp_tags-perfection","tax_ctp_tags-perfection-of-god","tax_ctp_tags-sin-nature","tax_ctp_tags-transcendence-of-god","tax_ctp_tags-wonder","tax_ctp_tags-worship"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"\nOther Skyscrapers Fall Short of the Burj Khalifa - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/other-skyscrapers-fall-short-of-burj-khalifa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Other Skyscrapers Fall Short of the Burj Khalifa - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In his recent book, Paul Tripp describes a trip to the see world’s tallest skyscraper: Wherever you go in Dubai, you are confronted with the Burj Khalifa the world's tallest building. 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