Climbing The Ladder

For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45)

Have you ever thought about the fact that any religion, any spiritual belief that talks about any heaven or hell always talks about heaven being “up” and hell being “down”? You find it all over the Bible. For example, Psalm 14:2 says, “The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind...”

You see, the birth of Christ was really just the beginning of a round trip that Jesus took from heaven down to earth and then took back up to heaven. In the second chapter of a letter that Paul wrote called Philippians, Paul describes this round trip so that we can understand it better.

The entire life of Jesus isn’t a story about somebody climbing a ladder; it is a picture of someone coming down a ladder. In eternity, He was at the top of the organizational chart of the universe, but He went from the top to the bottom. In fact, He even went lower than an angel. He became an ordinary human being, and He wasn’t born in a palace to a king and a queen but laid in a manger as a peasant son of a poverty-stricken couple.

From the time that He was born until He died, He spent His entire life doing two things: obeying God and serving others.

Paul says we ought to have that same mindset. We are not God, but we can be gracious. We are not heavenly, but we can be humble. We are not sovereigns, but we can be servants. At the end of the day, it’s not about climbing the ladder. It’s not about elevating yourself. It’s about emulating Jesus and serving others, putting those around you before yourself.

Dear Lord, thank you for the example of selflessness and service you set while you were on earth. Please give me more opportunities to serve like you did and help me to put others before myself rather than walking through life with a selfish attitude. In Jesus’ name, amen.