Becky Kew
Recently I put on skates for the first time in about six years. I played it safe and ended my session without hitting the ice.
During my second skate, I managed to trip and landed pretty hard. Thankfully a little boy, about five years old, skated to my rescue. He asked if I needed help. I wasn’t sure what to say, so I asked him if he could teach me how to get up. It was the cutest thing!
He purposely fell down and gave me some basic instructions. “You just lift one knee up like this.” Then he simply lifted himself up! It was a piece of cake for him, and I burst out laughing at the simplicity of it all. Eventually, after taking his advice and with a bit more effort than what he had to expend, I got up.
God’s Word, the Bible, teaches us a lot about what it means to fall. Spiritually speaking, we are all in a fallen state until we come to know Christ as our Savior.
Scripture says, “All have sinned, and have fallen short of God’s glorious standard” (Romans 3:23). His standard is perfection and we have all missed the mark. Some people tend to defend themselves by comparing their shortcomings to someone else who has committed more serious acts of sin. But this doesn’t erase our personal sins that God sees.
Faith in Christ’s shed blood on the cross for you does forgive all! (Romans 8:1) He alone, justifies and it is His standards that we need to meet. He says we need a Savior and Jesus is the the only way to God (First Timothy 2:5). Until a person puts their faith in Christ, they will stay in a fallen state no matter how good or clean their life may appear to be (Isaiah 64:6).
What about Jesus’ followers? Do they fall? Most certainly. They are not perfect—but they are forgiven and ready to meet God. A believer does stumble and fall into sin, but they will not continue in sinful habits. God’s Holy Spirit won’t let them. How encouraging for the believer! We don’t want to sin, but at the same time our flesh is weak.
It is the Spirit inside of us that is strong and able to give us the victory when we go to the Lord seeking His help and grace in our time of need (First Corinthians 5:57, Hebrews 4:16). He will never leave or abandon the believer. He gives His own eternal life and they can never perish, and nothing can separate them from the love of God (Romans 8:38-39)!
“For though a righteous man falls seven times, he will rise again, but the wicked stumble into calamity” (Proverbs 24:16).
How do we keep from falling? When I think of that little boy helping me as I lay on the ice looking up at him, I learned some valuable lessons:
We need to look up, because we are helpless without a Savior to save us. We are helpless to live a God-pleasing life without His Spirit in us. “Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other” (Isaiah 45:22).
We need to keep our eyes on Christ and His Word. We need to simply trust and obey.
That boy gave me simple instructions. I didn’t argue or ignore him. I LOOKED to him, AGREED with him and chose to OBEY! “Those who love God’s instructions as found in His Word have great peace and do not stumble” ( Psalm 119:165).
Listen to what God says and choose to believe Him! He truly loves you and can do for you what no other person can: “I will teach you wisdom’s way and lead you in straight paths. When you walk, you won’t be held back; when you run, you won’t stumble. Take hold of my instructions; don’t let them go. Guard them, for they are the key to life” (Proverbs 4:11-13).
Becky Kew shares Good News at Sandy Bay First Nation, Manitoba, Canada. BeckyKew@outlook.com
