We Get Up

Last week's "We Fall Down" post generated more comments than usual. And Bob Carlisle's song has been on continual play in my head. So I decided to spend some time on the second half of falling - Getting Up. I had worked on this post, but it was still a draft when we went to a Fellowship Meeting in Thousand Oaks on Saturday night. Elder Morton was the speaker and I wish y'all could have heard him! It was outstanding as usual, but it also went right along with this theme.

His text was I John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." His title was "A Spirit of Repentance." The first step to getting back up is true repentance. Not crocodile tears, not being sorry because we were caught, but true repentance.

While he was preaching, Elder Morton said, "Calvary is enough! It doesn't matter what you've done! Calvary is enough! God doesn't want anyone to be lost."

I had those same thoughts last week. When we say, "I can't get back up," "I can't go on," or "I can't be forgiven." What we're really saying is, "The blood of Jesus isn't powerful enough for what I've done." We may not say it out loud, but that is what is being said. Because if we truly understood the power of the Cross, we would never doubt again. Yes, we will still fall, but we would grasp the nail-scarred hand that was reaching down to us and allow it to pull us back up again.

I remember praying with a young lady a few years ago. After praying for a while I told her, "You can make it. You can live for God." Her response haunts me still. I can still hear the anguish as she replied, "I hope so." She was so full of doubt, afraid of her own weak flesh.

I believe getting back up is a decision. It takes faith, but it can be done. The next time you're tempted to stay down, look yourself in the eye and say, "The blood of Jesus isn't powerful enough for what I've done." If you can say that, you can stay down. But if you want to get back up, shout it in the face of your despair, "The blood of Jesus IS powerful enough, no matter what I've done!"

HE is faithful and just. He WILL forgive us and cleanse us.

I'm not done with this topic, there are a few people in the Bible I hope to write about in the next few days. Some who fell and got back up. Others who stayed down.