OSHA is serious about ladders. Since 90,000 people end up in the emergency room from ladder-related injuries every year, their caution is warranted. They lay out every detail about weight limits, angles, and minimum clear distance. Most work sites still have to remind every ladder-happy worker, “Maintain three points of contact! Don’t lean out past your belt buckle! Don’t climb any higher!” Like a parent watching toddlers, OSHA gives warnings but knows there will still be plenty of hospital visits.

We begin our journey toward God on the ladder of sensible reason. We may not admit that we are accumulating evidence for God but we’ll notice and keep track of things that point us in that direction. For example, the sudden and joyous turnaround in my family spoke volumes to my five-year-old heart. My parents let go of some old destructive habits and seemed to have renewed hope and focus. I rightly attributed this change to a copy of the New Testament that they were often reading and sometimes highlighting. I’ve heard stories of people who began to realize that their difficult life questions found answers in the Bible that led them deeper. I’ve heard of scientists who kept seeing wondrous complexity and undeniable design that opened them up to a Designer. The ladder of logical, empirical evidence takes us high – right up to the limits of what is reasonable. The evidence points to something that makes sense.

There comes a point, however, where God calls us even higher. We reach that last step of the ladder – the one marked in red that says, “Not a step!” – and God calls us to leave the ladder behind. This is faith. Consider Thomas… when all of the others had already seen Jesus and told about the resurrection, he would not believe. Thomas was a ladder man. Show me his hands. Show me his side. Give me more rungs on this ladder and I’ll climb all the way up. Jesus does just that. He gives Thomas the evidence. Jesus then says something intriguing:

Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

John 21:29, ESV

Thomas was one of the few hundred people who could physically examine the evidence of the resurrection. After the ascension, new believers would not have those rungs of the ladder. For 2000 years, people have been stepping off the top step without seeing – being certain of the very things they cannot see.

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:1

We talk about faith so often and so easily that we forget just how profound a step it is to place your full confidence in an unseen God. We don’t believe without reason but we don’t cling to the ladder of evidence. I cannot see my wife’s love for me, but there is plenty of evidence to support the idea. Imagine a marriage where I could not go more than a few hours without demonstrations that her love is real. Why did her text not include a heart? Why did she walk by without giving me a smile? We would pity such a person because they have no faith in their spouse’s love.

Loving relationships extend beyond the ladder. That’s where He calls us.