I found myself fumbling around in the dark recently in the most important room of the house – the kitchen pantry. The darkness antagonistically concealed the much-anticipated bounty all about me. Desperate to replace the lifeless bulb, I stood on my toes, arms outstretched, resolved to unfasten the sinister finger screw on the fixture overhead. After several failed attempts, I realized my reach was inadequate to the task before me. I needed help. Confidently, I retrieved my trustworthy ladder from the corner of the garage, planting it enthusiastically below the rebellious fixture, and swiftly swapped-out the defective bulb.                                                        

Fortunately, the aid of a sturdy ladder enabled me to reach, and thereby resolve the cause of failure in my resolve to meet my physical needs. Certainly, this is not the outcome in the multiplied challenges we face in life, as many are completely out of reach. Our best attempts and intentions to repair society’s ills, ladders of our own making, fall short time and time again.  We see symptoms of our societal dilemma in an increasingly volatile national economy, not to mention that of the world. International conflict continues to rage over the threatening intentions of rogue countries and their ongoing quest to produce uranium and plutonium, seeking to leverage their radical agendas. 

We find ladders constructed everywhere. Admittedly, the quality of ladders has increased our reach in some areas. Unprecedented advances in technology offer ladders to improve the quality of life, with promise of increased longevity.  However, from a spiritual viewpoint, mankind remains plagued with the inevitable consequences of sin – physical death (Rom. 6:23). The statistics hold – one out of every one of us will physically expire - much like the bulb in my kitchen pantry.  In this respect, mankind is helpless without a Divine ladder.

In a general sense, religion is a man-made ladder designed especially to reach upward in an ambitious attempt to reach God, thereby absolving, or restoring himself. The ladder of humanism suggests that we can essentially fix ourselves through religion, education, or some form of self-effort. The proposed ladders fall dreadfully short – the evidence is swirling all about us.  Luther reconciled the truth of grace in his experience by examining the Scripture which claimed, “The kindness and love of God our Savior, toward man … not by works of righteousness [or in response] which we have done” (Tit. 3:4, 5).

In grace, God provided a perfect ladder in the person of Jesus Christ, extended from heaven to earth, as the way to help us reach things altogether out of our grasp. God, the Father, took the initiative to extend His undeserved love and mercy toward mankind. Grace in offering to us what we didn’t deserve – eternal life.  Jesus Christ is the only way sinful men and women can ascend up to God and find acceptance with Him as the Mediator (John 14:6). It is only by and through Christ that God comes to us in “… reconciling the world to Himself” (2 Corinth. 5:19).