The Ladder System
Saturday night at RMGA, we heard a message from Marta, one of the regional Crusade staff workers. She spoke on selected passages from Galatians. Her application was the area of comparison, one in which we often fall short. She described a concept that she called "the ladder system", one I quickly recognized as a common fault in my own life.
Here's the way the ladder system works. When you do good things, you go further up the ladder. When you do bad things, you go down the ladder. Then, a natural extension is to look down on the people lower down the ladder than you, and look up to the people higher up the ladder than you.
When Jesus comes, though, He does away with the ladder. He has paid for all of our sins past, present and future. That makes it so that we can't go down the ladder. When God looks at us, He sees only the righteousness of Christ, so we are at the top of the ladder. How could we add anything to what He has done for us?
Finally, she showed a diagram that shows the contrast between our "natural man" and the new creation that God puts in us. Sadly, this blog does not do pictures yet, otherwise I would insert a graphical representation.
The diagram starts with our attitudes. Our attitudes control our actions and our attitudes control our thoughts. Our thoughts then control our beliefs. A subset of our beliefs are our beliefs about God.
Marta described how in our natural fallen state, when we walk into a room, we automatically and subconsciously size up the other people, usually of our own gender. Apparently, women compare appearances ("does she look as good as me?"), while men compare physical ability ("could I beat him in a fist fight?"). In an effort to make ourselves look better, we then associate with those people that we view as lower on the "totem pole" than us. Again, attitudes (sizing up) lead to thoughts (I'm better than so-and-so), which control our beliefs (I'm more important or not as important as that other person). From there, we convince ourselves that a person's worth is of our making, and that God is not all-powerful and in control of everything.
When we get our beliefs about God right, God works in us (connection with God). He gives us His perspective, and we think His thoughts. Lastly, this leads to His fruit. In Galatians 5, we see the results when we control our lives in verses 19-21. When God controls our lives, all that ugly stuff is replaced by the good fruit in verses 22-23. Sometimes we can make God's fruit ourselves, but it only barely looks like it. At a closer glance, the illusion falls apart, and people see how empty and worthless it really is.
Instead of trying to hang out with the people lower on the ladder than I as Marta suggested, I think that I tend to look for the people that I perceive as higher on the ladder than I in hopes that they can help me further up the ladder.
I forget that it is solely "In Christ alone my hope is found", and that while others may encourage me, they can't really improve my life. It's only God that can do that. He can work through a word or deed from my friends, but it's still His work. I'll continue with this theme in the next entry.
Until next time, Vaya con Dios.
Here's the way the ladder system works. When you do good things, you go further up the ladder. When you do bad things, you go down the ladder. Then, a natural extension is to look down on the people lower down the ladder than you, and look up to the people higher up the ladder than you.
When Jesus comes, though, He does away with the ladder. He has paid for all of our sins past, present and future. That makes it so that we can't go down the ladder. When God looks at us, He sees only the righteousness of Christ, so we are at the top of the ladder. How could we add anything to what He has done for us?
Finally, she showed a diagram that shows the contrast between our "natural man" and the new creation that God puts in us. Sadly, this blog does not do pictures yet, otherwise I would insert a graphical representation.
The diagram starts with our attitudes. Our attitudes control our actions and our attitudes control our thoughts. Our thoughts then control our beliefs. A subset of our beliefs are our beliefs about God.
Marta described how in our natural fallen state, when we walk into a room, we automatically and subconsciously size up the other people, usually of our own gender. Apparently, women compare appearances ("does she look as good as me?"), while men compare physical ability ("could I beat him in a fist fight?"). In an effort to make ourselves look better, we then associate with those people that we view as lower on the "totem pole" than us. Again, attitudes (sizing up) lead to thoughts (I'm better than so-and-so), which control our beliefs (I'm more important or not as important as that other person). From there, we convince ourselves that a person's worth is of our making, and that God is not all-powerful and in control of everything.
When we get our beliefs about God right, God works in us (connection with God). He gives us His perspective, and we think His thoughts. Lastly, this leads to His fruit. In Galatians 5, we see the results when we control our lives in verses 19-21. When God controls our lives, all that ugly stuff is replaced by the good fruit in verses 22-23. Sometimes we can make God's fruit ourselves, but it only barely looks like it. At a closer glance, the illusion falls apart, and people see how empty and worthless it really is.
Instead of trying to hang out with the people lower on the ladder than I as Marta suggested, I think that I tend to look for the people that I perceive as higher on the ladder than I in hopes that they can help me further up the ladder.
I forget that it is solely "In Christ alone my hope is found", and that while others may encourage me, they can't really improve my life. It's only God that can do that. He can work through a word or deed from my friends, but it's still His work. I'll continue with this theme in the next entry.
Until next time, Vaya con Dios.
posted by The student of life at 12:43 AM
1 Comments:
Thanks for sharing, Kenton. That's a perspective on the fruit of the Spirit I hadn't heard before. Would that all Christ-followers would learn to view themselves as God does!
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