In the story of Jacob’s Ladder, Jacob had a spiritual encounter in a certain location…the mistake was that  Jacob set up a monument for others to gather and experience God in that specific location. God didn’t limit himself to one place, but Jacob believed that his monument was the gateway to heaven. Gen 28

How does this relate to us?  We make the same mistake everyday, in our actions, behaviors and religious rituals.  We seem to revolve our lives around the familiar “sources” of God’s presence.  Certain friendships, “God–Friendly” businesses and of course our favorite place of worship are where we go in order to relive past spiritual encounters, and try to find the arrows that redirect us to God’s presence.

We often mistake an environment of feel good emotions for the spirit of God because of the cross on the door. We miss His presence throughout the day at the coffee shop when he directs our attention to a lonely unattractive person in the corner that needs one kind word to save their life.

We tend to stay in the religious rut that makes us feel safe……

We read a book recently, called “The Transforming Church”.  The opening story has captured our heart and imagination for the Body of Christ.

The story speaks of monkeys in a cage that are positioned around a ladder.  At the top of the ladder is a bunch of fake bananas.  The monkeys can’t tell the difference between real and fake bananas at such a great distance.

The instant the fake bananas were placed at the top of the ladder, the monkeys began to race up the ladder.  Little did they know that a huge pail of water would rain down on them if they reached a certain elevation.  When the water hit, the monkeys scattered.  They never reached the top of the ladder.  After a few attempts, the monkeys quit trying to scale the ladder for the bananas.

The scientist who were observing the primates, decided to change it up a bit.  A new monkey replaced one of the original monkeys.  The new monkey saw the fake bananas, and immediately began to scale the ladder.  The original monkeys reached up to pull the new monkey down.

One by one, the scientist replaced an original monkey with a new one.  After a time, through body language alone, the new monkey “knew” not to even try to scale the ladder for the bananas.  It was understood, these bananas were just to look at, not to eat. 

Many of us, have been a part of a culture that is quick to accept us if we accept the cultural norms – real or fake.  Reality is shared through verbal and non-verbal communication.

What if those monkeys could have escaped the cage?

What if they knew the bananas were fake?

Would their advice have changed to the new members added to the cage?

This story resonates with us because as I’ve said before, we are recovering Cushies. In our past Cushy life, we obeyed the subtle and not so subtle, messages of the culture without ever truly understanding, how much of it was based on the word of God. 

Much of what we practiced was a learned behavior that we protected fiercely. Loyalty to the culture was the priority before our loyalty to God. We didn’t understand others outside of our Cushy cage and their hesitation to enter the cage. We instinctively protected the culture because that’s what we were trained to do.

Looking back, we didn’t believe there could be any other way of looking at things. Maybe we should have been more open to listening to the other monkeys outside of our cage. Maybe they had a perspective or understanding of the cage that we needed. Maybe they were once in the cage and got to the top when the water was turned off. They could have told us about the fake bananas.

We believe “we do what we do” innocently, because ultimately we are all looking for love and acceptance. We just need to look for authentic love and acceptance in the right place, which is ultimately from God. God can also use the most unlikely of people and places to share that perspective.

The good news is God is everywhere and with you right now. Jesus is the gateway to heaven, not a person or place. Only He can fill the hole in your heart that was designed by Him to fill. When He fills that place in your heart, then His love will radiate and draw others in, through you, in a genuine and real way.

God had to remove us from the cage, in order to see things through His perspective. The Cushy cage culture focuses on acceptance from others inside the system instead of focusing on accepting those outside of the system where they are. While in the cage, we didn’t want to know or understand the other life outside. Thank goodness that our earthquake broke open the cage and set us free.

We watch many inside their Cushy culture start to see things that are questionable, but ultimately they choose the cage because they need it to feel safe. The cage has become their home and identity. They fear being rejected by the friends they’ve made while inside. We aren’t telling you to leave your church, but we are asking, again, that Christians reevaluate what they’re doing and why.

Don’t become like the other set of monkeys, that refused to look at any evil, hear of any evil or speak of any evil. Stand for God’s word and ways before anything or anyone else. If your leader and Cushy friends disappeared, and your church doors were locked for good, where would you go to find God?

Peace and Love.

Julie and Cory Albracht