Did you ever play that game as a teenager when you went to the shopping centre and ran up the down escalator? No? Oh, well me neither then. But my friends did. We’d be going up the escalator, and one mental mate would leg it up the down escalator, and reach the top just after us, sweating from the effort. I’d have liked to see him do that on the escalators at Angel tube station, they are long.
But I think we live life trying to run up the down escalator. A friend said to me a bit ago that he thought God will judge us based on how we’ve lived our lives – so long as we’ve done enough good stuff, we’ll reach the top of the escalator. We might be sweaty, but it will be worth it.
But that’s not what Jesus said. He wants to place us on the up escalator. As we do good works then yes, we do move up the escalator. But the fact of the matter is that we may get distracted by stuff around us, and stop walking up…but that doesn’t stop us getting closer to God. That’s grace.
Running up the down escalator leads to only two places. Either you don’t run enough so will never reach the top, or you think that you will, and therefore become proud. Pride being a sin knocks you down a whole bunch of stairs – you’re in a lose-lose situation.
That’s why I love grace, and that’s why I love Jesus. He lifted me off the down escalator and plonked me on the up escalator. I don’t have to walk up, but it’s fun to because it gets me closer to him. Sometimes I do look away and don’t make any forward progress in myself, but my destination is clear. All it takes is faith in the escalator.
I’ll see you at the top.
