"Passing The Torch" - part 3

'Jacob's Ladder': "And Jacob went from Beer-sheba, and went toward Haran. And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and desending on it. And the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed." (Genesis 28:10-14) Many believe that this was the time of Jacob's conversion; a moment where God offers to Jacob the promise of his fathers, and where Jacob accepts this promise as his own. The ladder ascending up into heaven from the earth, is looked upon by some as a picture of God's Grace; wherein God provides us with the access unto Him, where someone has access unto God via a climb. This concept has been used by various cultures in ways to access spiritual maturity; especially in many eastern cultures, where temples are accessed via extraordinarily high and long stairways. But does this really picture God's Grace in that way? No, I am quite sure that it does not, because God's Grace does not involve a climb. Actually, it would be best pictured as an elevator ride; where all that a person would need to do is to just get in, and would have access to God. Jacob's Ladder was not about climbing up to God, but was about access to God. I am sure that if they had elevators in his time, Jacob would have used that in his dream; but that is just my thought on the matter. People who live on the beach, sometimes lose their love for the beach, and all it has to offer them. It can be like that for us also when it comes to the Gift of God's Grace; where we can begin to forget just how special His Grace is to our eternal life. We must not forget how free His Gift of Grace is, and that it is not something we can earn, or are rewarded; but yet many do not demonstrate this to their children. Our actions speak louder than our words; and for many of the children being raised in this current generation, they do not understand the concept of God's Grace; mostly because they do not see their parents live it out. We are given Grace freely by God, and He requires only that we accept it; yet to relate that concept to our children, we need to mimic that concept to them in our love to them. In other words; the manor in which we demonstrate our love to them, is to be the reality of God's Grace to us. Our children should not have to earn love and respect from us; but in so many cases, they feel that they do; and more times than not, they give up trying to earn love and respect, and rebel from their parents, and from God. It is so vitally important as we raise our children in the Lord, and teach them about His love for us, that we also live out that same love for them; otherwise, all that we teach them is only words; and the real concept of what God's Grace is all about will be so much harder for them to realize. They must be able to come to understand the concept of unconditional love, and we must show them what that love is all about in the way that we love them; then they will be able, and more willing to accept, and believe what we say. For us, God's Grace is not about a climb; but for us to relate His Grace to our children, it is: we must be constantly ascending and descending before God and then to them! "For by grace are ye saved through faith: and that not of yourselves: it is the Gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:8-10)