GET BACK UP

“There’s no life so deeply and so tragically sinful that it’s beyond the reach of God’s amazing rescuing grace”.- Paul Tripp

So, there is this feeling circling inside you, you are a loser because of the things you’ve done. But that’s not all; you’ve tried so many times to climb out of this pit of dirt without success. And you want to stop trying because you’ve tried enough-you only rise to fall.   Your experiences in the fight against these vices-gambling, alcoholism, pornography and lying, have been unsuccessful.

 Your prayer is intense, even desperate; you wish to cut your heart open to reveal words that defy expression. You sigh, wish, and think virtually every moment you’re awake. You rise from your entreaties, and you feel the heaviness fall off, and you think finally you’ve got your break-through. But moments, or days, or weeks, or months later, your indulgence dents your ‘winning’ run. Then you lose your enthusiasm, next, you lose the desire to get back in the game-to pursue godliness, faith, devotion, and those virtues you hold so dear.

      It sure is a tough struggle. One you’ll need to fight with someone else, someone stronger than you are, and your indulgence. You’ve recorded only failures. You even ask yourself why you get up to try again. Staying down is safe.

C. S. Lewis, in his book Mere Christianity, describe quite aptly, the long and often rigorous journey of winning the battle against sexual purity, and other addictions, as well as developing Christian virtues:

“We may, indeed, be sure that perfect chastity—like perfect charity—will not be attained by any merely human efforts. You must ask for God's help. Even when you have done so, it may seem to you for a long time that no help, or less help than you need, is being given. Never mind. After each failure, ask forgiveness, pick yourself up, and try again. Very often what God first helps us towards is not the virtue itself but just this power of always trying again. For however important chastity (or courage, or truthfulness, or any other virtue) may be, this process trains us in habits of the soul which are more important still. It cures our illusions about ourselves and teaches us to depend on God. We learn, on the one hand, that we cannot trust ourselves even in our best moments, and, on the other, that we need not despair even in our worst, for our failures are forgiven. The only fatal thing is to sit down content with anything less than perfection”. (underlining for emphasis)

With God, it’s not so much the destination as the journey. Interminable lessons are learned on the path to freedom. Out of all these mess, God’s sovereign hands, with great skill and purpose, is weaving a beautiful tapestry. It sounds ludicrous, but, well, it is grace.

       Staying down is safe, but we miss the adventure, glory, and thrilling experience of walking with God. Get back up and try again. And if you fall, try again.