THE PARABLE OF THE LADDER

PASTOR RYAN LADEN – DEVOTIONALS

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In my message from June 30, 2024, I opened our study of Romans 9:30-10:4 by using a visual illustration of a big orange ladder on the stage next to me. I used this ladder to help me set up our study of Paul’s message on the need to turn away from any notion that we are building our own path to God through our good works. 

I wanted to return to this illustration and provide its message in today’s devotional. So, what follows is a parable (made up by me) that I hope will help you as much as it has helped me. 

Ladder

Imagine your standard six-foot ladder. It has steps up one side and weird skinny legs and a paint can holder on the other side. This is an average-looking ladder, which is appropriate because it is going to be used to illustrate a very common situation. 

This ladder represents the approach that most of us take to our most common relationships. 

Foundation

If I were to ask you what is most important to making a ladder safe, I hope you would say its footing or in other words, its foundation. In the same way that a solid foundation is important to safely using a ladder, it is also needed in every good relationship. 

In almost every good relationship, both parties need to establish a foundation of trust before we can work on building connections. And just in case you were unaware, trust does not just happen. Trust is not built in a day, it takes a while for both parties in a relationship to learn whether or not each side is a trustworthy partner. 

We build trust by demonstrating that we are who we say we are and that we will do what we say we will do. As we observe the other’s actions, listen to the their words, and experience their dependability and integrity, we begin to build trust in the other person. 

Growing Closer

Once we build a base of trust, we are free to share experiences, share and gain knowledge, and communicate freely with the person we are building this relationship with. As we do our part, as we invest our time, attention, and energy into the relationship, things begin to grow in a positive way. 

Basically, as we do the right things in the relationship, we grow closer to the other person and move up the ladder. These are the good days. When we do the right things in the right way and at the right time, we move up the rungs of the relationship ladder, and our relationship with the other person feels more connected.

Falling Away

But, when we mess up, when we say or do the wrong thing, and when we violate the other person’s trust, we move down a few rungs on the ladder. When we mess up, we move further away from the other person, and we lose that sense of closeness and connection. 

And when we really break the bond of trust, we know we are going to have to work extra hard to rebuild that foundation of trust. Which can be exhausting and very challenging (which is why many of us choose to give up on the relationship rather than make that kind of investment).

Common

This approach to relationship building is basic to the human experience. It is so common and so prevalent that it, therefore, makes sense that we might seek to apply this ladder approach to our relationship with God. 

This is why we often feel closer to God when we are doing the “right stuff” for God and why we feel disconnected from the Lord when we mess up and fall down the ladder. 

This kind of ladder-based rollercoaster experience with God is so common that we have a collection of ready-made phrases to describe what it feels like when we “fall away,” “backslide,” or “fall flat” in our walk with the Lord. 

Frustrated

If this is how we approach our relationship with God, it is no wonder we often get frustrated and feel like there is no point in trying any harder to do better. We know we will just mess it all up again soon enough. 

There are a lot of people I know that are living in this state of spiritual misery, and they have no idea how to solve their problem or rebuild the foundation of their relationship with God. 

Grace

Now, Imagine that you took that same ladder and turned it on its side so that it kind of looks like a weird letter “V” lying on its side. In this iteration of the ladder illustration, we encounter a different approach to our relationship with the Lord. 

Here, we find the gift of grace. In this view, the Lord is the one who has done all the work needed to create and build a real relationship with you. He has not called you to climb up the ladder into his presence; instead, he has come to you and has freely and graciously given you his all. 

This idea is expressed well in the following two verses:

6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

(Romans 5:6, 8 NIV11) 

While we were powerless, ungodly, sinful, and enemies of God, Jesus Christ, the Immanuel, God with us, entered our lives, our flesh, our world, and gave his all for us. This is grace. The Lord has met our needs completely through Christ’s cross and empty tomb. 

We cannot climb into a good relationship with the Lord based on our effort and strength. But we can receive the gift of God’s mercy and grace and choose to walk with Jesus by faith. 

Tired

If you are tired of living on the rollercoaster of success and failure, closeness and disconnection with the Lord, then perhaps it is time to lay aside the old way of building and maintaining a relationship with God. 

Maybe it is time to receive the gift of God’s grace. 

More

If you want to know more, try looking up and reading Romans 10:9-13.

Call on the Lord Jesus Christ by faith and stop trying to climb up to God. 

In Christ, 

Ryan Laden

PASTOR RYAN LADEN

Works at MTN. CHURCH

Former Senior pastor at Warnbro Community Church

Studies at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary

Studied at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary

Studied at Baylor University

Studied at Texas Tech University

Went to Castle Hills First Baptist

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