2 Peter 3:18 - But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

Are you doing well as a Christian? It seems that often Christians are less concerned with the fact that they're a Christian than their proficiency at being one. Because of this, we envision our Christian lives as being like a ladder we have to climb. Sure, we think, Christ's great sacrifice for us was enough to get us on the ladder, but now it's up to us to move higher. We imagine the pope and Mother Teresa as being very high on the ladder and those people who don't read their Bibles every day as being very low. This concept makes sense to us, and it allows us to do one of our favorite things in the world - compare ourselves and our progress to that of others.

So what, then, are we to make of the Great Christian Tumble? You know what I mean: when someone considered "a great Christian" is revealed to have been engaging in reprehensible behavior. It's confusing. We don't know how to classify the event. Was this person not as high on the ladder as had imagined? Perhaps they'd never really gotten on the ladder at all. The truth, though, is more profound: there is no ladder.

Each of us, as Martin Luther said, at the same time justified and sinner, or in other words, we are both right before God and wrong in ourselves. We live our lives in the glory of the Holy Spirit even while we are getting in accidents, getting called names, and getting abandoned by our loved ones. Even while we are still dealing with sin. Our desperate need never goes away.

In ourselves, we are left in a crumpled heap at the bottom of the Christian ladder. In Christ, we are carried directly to heaven, no work necessary on our part.

--Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,