Recently, I visited a kids’ gym with my daughter and grandson—a vibrant space designed to ignite movement, imagination, and joy. From toddlers to tweens, children darted through tunnels, balanced on beams, dove into foam pits, bounced on trampolines, scaled rock walls, and swung from giant ribbons suspended from the ceiling. It was a wonderland of tumbling, swinging, and jumping.
One piece of equipment especially caught my eye: a sloped structure lined with padded cylinders—like giant foam rollers—nestled between two parallel sides. My daughter explained it was a slide. Kids could climb up the back, perch at the top, and glide down the twirling foam rollers. It looked like pure fun.
But I realized something else. If a child approached the front instead of the back, they’d be forced to climb up the spinning rollers—only to be rolled back down again and again. No matter how determined, they wouldn’t gain traction.
That image stuck with me. It reminded me of our spiritual journey. Imagine a foam roller slide stretching from the bottom of the Grand Canyon to the rim above. That represents the distance we’d need to cover to reach the holiness God requires to enter His presence. Trying to climb it ourselves—through good deeds, moral effort, or religious performance—is like scrambling up those rollers. We’d slip. We’d fall. Over and over and over… we’d never get to the top, and would exhaust ourselves trying.
But God, in His mercy, made a way. Picture that same canyon, but now with a giant escalator rising from the depths. All it takes is one step—one act of faith, one moment of humility—to be lifted into the kingdom of God. We put our footing of faith on the first step of that escalator and watch in pure amazement and joy as He lifts us up, with no dependence on our striving or sweating. Psalm 40:2 says, He lifted me out of the slimy pit… and set my feet on a rock. James 4:10 reminds us, Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up. He WANTS to lift us up. He WANTS us to reach higher ground, and, putting our faith entirely in Jesus, we can!
We are all stuck in the bottom of the Grand Canyon spiritually without the divine help of a Savior. Romans 3:23 explains it this way: All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. But Ephesians 2:8-9 reveals God’s solution beautifully: For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
And the grace that brings us salvation and the free gift of righteousness is the same grace that lifts us out of our fleshly habits, our negative thought patterns, and our selfish motivations after we’re saved. God wants to keep lifting us up and out, higher and higher, as we are transformed into His image.
Grace isn’t earned. It’s received. And the first step is humbling ourselves and admitting we can’t climb on our own. Will you stop striving and admit you can’t lift yourself up?
