It has been a couple of weeks now since the bear last raided our hummingbird feeders. Every night I bring all 3 feeders inside. And every morning the first thing I do is carry all 3 feeders back outside.
The back feeder and side feeder aren’t really a hassle to bring inside each night and take back out each morning. I can reach them easily. But the feeder on the front porch is a real hassle. I can’t reach it.
Each time I have to carry my step ladder out to the front porch, set the step ladder up … go back inside and get the feeder … bring the feeder out and climb up the step ladder to hang it back up.
This morning, as I was climbing the step ladder to hang the hummingbird feeder back up, my pastor’s words blazed across my mind: “We do not go up to God; but rather our God came down to us.”
My pastor says this quite often.
Out of all the major world religions, Christianity is the only one which teaches that we do not go up to God by our own good works or our own efforts. We can’t “climb up to God.”
Rather … our God came down to us. Jesus Christ (who is God) left Heaven and came down to earth. Jesus took on a human body just like us. Jesus lived a normal human life, with all its hardships and temptations, just like us. Jesus lived a perfect life (which we should have lived). Jesus did not do anything wrong – ever. Jesus died the death that we each deserve (for the payment of our sin).
And by Jesus coming down to us and paying the price for our sin, Jesus has made a way for us to enter Heaven. Jesus came down to us, in order to personally bring us up to God in Heaven.
“We do not go up to God; but rather our God came down to us.”
Thank you Jesus for coming down to us. Thank you that we don’t have to go through the hassle and effort of trying to be good enough to earn our way to Heaven. Thank you that we don’t have to try day after day after day (just like me climbing the step ladder day after day after day) to “climb” our way to Heaven.
Thank you Jesus for coming down to us … and that it is your good work which gives us access to Heaven.
