Stumbling Toward EternitySýnishorn

OUR DEFAULT SETTING

With­out the cross as the center of our thoughts, conversations, and spiritual life, we will inevitably turn to what can be called ladder theology. Ladder theology is the de­fault setting of human existence; it is the religious impulse in all of us to prove our worth through effort, to climb our way to heaven that has already come down to us.

But the heroic ascent is a fool’s errand. We can no more build to the heavens than we can save ourselves, and all our at­tempts to do so will end in self-deception and ruin.

As Paul said in the letter to the Philippians: “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by tak­ing the form of a servant, being born in the like­ness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:5-8).

Our satisfaction will never be found on the ladder of human effort. Instead, it will be found in our daily surrender to the One who descended into the depths of human brokenness, emptied Himself of His glory, and identified with us at our lowest point. God’s glory is discovered most fully at the foot of the cross. For this is where the crucified God eradicated once and for all the impossible dis­tance between Himself and His rebellious human creation. Our acceptance of work that cannot be improved upon is the only way we will ascend.

The path is always down before Jesus can lift us up.

In your own life, when are you most tempted to forget Jesus’s work on the cross and focus on human effort instead?