A stone tower, 32 metres (104 feet) high, stands on Svatobor, a hill near the town of Sušice in Czechia. Reconstructed in 1935, it serves as an observation point, allowing hikers and tourists a stunning view of Sušice and of the surrounding low mountain ranges. Our family was on holiday there, my mother's birthplace, the summer I was thirteen.

A gentle walk from the town brought us to a quaint stone chalet with this attached tower. My brother and I were eager to tackle the winding staircase inside it to reach the top. Around and around, we hurried as we climbed the stairs in a tight coil. Panting with the effort, our steps soon slowed. We had been counting the stairs, all 182 of them. "Boy, were we tired when we got up," reads my childhood diary. Although the view was wonderful, the exertion, probably combined with prolonged travel, jetlag, and a previous cold, really did me in. By the next evening, I had a fever, soon leading to pneumonia.

John 1:51 – Then [Jesus] said, "I tell you the truth, you will all see heaven open and the angels of God going up and down on the Son of Man, the one who is the stairway between heaven and earth." (NLT)

Just as narrow stairs were the only way to the top of the tower, Jesus is the only stairway to heaven — not a stairway that must be climbed, but more like a bridge that allows us access to God the Father.

Near the end of His earthly life, Jesus tried to prepare His disciples for His departure in the near future:

John 14:4-6 – "You know the way to where I am going." "No, we don't know, Lord," Thomas said. "We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?" Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me." (NLT)

Climbing the Sušice tower required exertion. Unlike other religions, Christians do not have to work to reach the promise of heaven.

John 6:63a – The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. (NLT)

Jesus accomplished our salvation by His sacrifice on the cross. Yet how often we fall into the trap of thinking that we are responsible to better ourselves, or to live a life good enough to win God's favour. How much better it is to rest in the work that Jesus has done on our behalf!

Unlike the physical effects of my overexertion, heaven will be worth it, far beyond the grasp of our minds presently limited by concepts of time and space.

Let us realize that as we grow in Christ here on earth, we are preparing ourselves for service in heaven. Let us rejoice in Jesus, our stairway to that wonderful place!

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You for providing a stairway, Jesus, so that we can be with You forever. Praise Your holy name! Amen.