Frankie was about three years old when he built a tower out of wooden building blocks. He got about five blocks stacked up, but then the whole thing tumbled down. He laughed and tried again.
But Frank is a man now, and if he is a good builder he will start building a tower with plans. Some towers reach very, very high into the sky. He will need helpers to study the bedrock underground and decide what the depth of the foundation should be. He’ll also need to decide on the number and strength of the steel beams to be used, as well as everything else that will be needed. It will take lots of planning.
And there is one more thing that Frank needs to figure out. How much will it cost to build this tower, and does he have enough money to pay for it? There is no use in being right about the details if you can’t pay the bill.
Most of us agree that heaven is up in the sky someplace. The disciples saw Jesus go up to heaven after His resurrection, until a cloud received Him out of their sight. It was far better than a tower; it was God’s power! And the disciples definitely wanted to go to heaven too, but they couldn’t build a tower to reach heaven or pay for it.
Maybe you would like to go to heaven too, but do you have enough money to pay your way? If you want to travel anywhere, you can’t go even halfway without money. And what good is halfway? You don’t want to be dropped in the middle of the ocean!
There’s a story in the Bible about a man who didn’t figure out everything first. He just set to work to build a tower and figured that it would all work out somehow. But it didn’t!
If you want to reach heaven where Jesus is, the whole price must be paid before you go. Here is the good news. Just before the Lord Jesus died on the cross, He said, “It is finished” (John 19:3030When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. (John 19:30)). No one else but Jesus could have taken our load of sins on Himself and paid for them. No one else could have suffered as He did from the hand of a holy God and then shout, “It is finished”!
Here’s something else to think about. Do you have your ticket to heaven? It is offered as a gift, so you don’t have to pay for it, because Jesus already paid for it on the cross. “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:2323For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)). All you have to do to receive this very special gift is to tell Him that you know you are a sinner and accept His wonderful gift of eternal life with thankfulness. You don’t need to build a tower to reach heaven. Jesus is the way, and He has the power to take you there.
The builder in our Bible story got half finished building his tower when he ran out of money. All he had was a half-finished tower. There was no hiding his foolish mistake. Maybe he was really a smart man, but he didn’t stop to think that he would need lots of money to build and finish a tower.
Are you like that too? Have you really thought about what it takes to reach heaven? I don’t mean money, because you can’t buy your way to heaven with dollars. What I mean is, Are your sins washed away, since not one sin can enter God’s heaven?
Lots of people passed by that unfinished tower, and they laughed at the foolish builder. They said, This man began to build a tower and was not able to finish! He may have been a rich man at the beginning, but he had nothing now except a half-finished tower. What a wasted life!
Are you building your life without Christ? You may be successful right up until quitting time, and then find that you have missed heaven after all. The Lord Jesus is the only One who can pay your way to heaven. “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:1212Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)).
Think About God’s Word!
1. Why couldn’t the man finish the tower he was building?
Project: The Lord Jesus always finishes everything He starts. How many different places in Scripture can you find that show this? Start your search in Philippians 1.