Getting Knocked Down Part 3 – Standing

5-6-18

Now that we’ve talked about falling down and landing, let’s think about what comes next. We don’t want to stay on the ground forever, do we? We’ve got to get back on our feet.

Decide

When you’re sitting on the ground, you have a couple options. You can stay there. Or you can keep going. Maybe it feels like it would be easier to just lay down and give up. Let life go on around you and stop trying.

But is that what you want? I think that one of the common aspects of humanity is the need to feel worthwhile. To have mattered to something or someone. And if we give up on life, even though it doesn’t take a lot of effort, it’s hard to do. Because then what do we have to look back on?

And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. – Galatians 6:9

God knows that it’s easy to get discouraged. To feel so tired that we can’t imagine pulling ourselves through another day. But if we do that, we won’t get anything back.

If we keep going, even when it’s hard to do, we’ll eventually harvest something from our work. This week I planted carrots in our garden. As I was getting the ground ready, I noticed something orange in the dirt. It was a carrot from last year.

What happened was last year the tops of our carrots grew well. But when I went to harvest them, there were only tiny stubs where the vegetable should have been. So I gave up on them. And evidently there were carrots there that I could have gotten for us to eat. But I was tired and discouraged and I gave up too soon. I missed out on the reward for the work I put in.

Stand Up

We can’t afford to give up. We’re going to be on this earth for a certain amount of time. We need to use the time that we have well. Sure, sometimes being a Christian makes me tired. But I can be tired as a Christian or miserable as someone who gave up.

So when we’re down, let’s not stay there. Let’s stand back up and get ready to keep going. We can start wherever we are.

Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples. – Psalm 96:3

God can work any situation for good. Maybe because of what happened to you, you met new people or are spending time in a different place. Or maybe your perspective has changed so that you are talking to people you knew before but never spent time with.

Walk On

Being a Christian isn’t about being perfect. It’s about trusting a perfect God.

But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. – 1 John 1:7

Notice the action verb in the first sentence: “walk”. Being God’s children isn’t passive. We have to keep moving. Doing. Believing.

Even when we’ve messed up, there’s still something for us to do. Peter learned this when He lied during the crucifixion and said that he didn’t even know who Jesus was. After Jesus’ resurrection, He had a serious talk with Peter. After Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved Him, Jesus said, “Feed My sheep.” (John 21:17) Jesus still had work for Peter to do, and according to history Peter died as a faithful apostle.

Jesus knew what He was doing when He died for people who aren’t perfect. He knew we would mess up. Isn’t that why He came? So when we do make mistakes, or get knocked down by circumstances, that’s not a valid reason to stop walking the Christian walk. Every Christian has to decide every day to keep going.

Next time, we’ll talk about how to deal with these embarrassing moments in our past.

May the Lord bless and keep you,

Heather

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