Get Back Up!

​In the late 1970’s a television commercial for a home emergency paging system made the phrase famous “I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up!” Some of you remember this. I can still see the elderly lady calling out for help from the living room floor.
 
Fast forward to 2023: many people are falling and not getting back up.
 
 What a tragedy that people today in our culture and world have adopted this ad slogan as their excuse for not coming back from setbacks and succeeding after falling or failing. “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up” can become a cop out, an easy excuse to stay down in life’s journey.
 
Truth be told, all of us fall down because we take hits in life.
 
Living in a fallen world no one is exempt from taking a fall from time to time. From out of nowhere life hits take the wind out of our sail, knocking our feet out from under us. None of us like to fall. But falls happen. It is sad and disheartening to watch people take a fall and not get up to stand tall again.
 
Staying down when we have fallen down is not a steppingstone to success.
 
Solomon has something significant to say about the righteous man who takes a fall.
 
“For a righteous man falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in time of calamity.” Proverbs 24:16
           
Life tends to trip up even the best of us. Note that a “righteous man” will fall. Good, godly people fall how many times? At least seven. I am sure I have fallen more than seven times in my lifetime so far! How about you?
 
You and I must nail this down as God’s children: It is inevitable we will fall down from time to time. There is no fall-free life.
 
Believers in Christ are not granted an exemption from falling. If you think Christians are free from falling, read your Bible and think again. From cover-to-cover righteous men and women of God took tumbles and stumbled in life. BUT THEY GOT UP!
 
The righteous man falls. But every single time, he gets up. The righteous man rises above Satan’s hits and his own shortcomings, mistakes, missteps, flops, fumbles, and failures by getting back up. EVERY SINGLE TIME!!!!!   
 

• QUITTERS STAY DOWN. WINNERS GET UP!

 
The unrighteous person (“wicked”) also falls in a time of calamity (testing, trial, or difficulty). But instead of rising up to run another lap in the race of life, his stumble crushes him and causes him to crumble. He lies down and wallows in the misery of his fall. Without faith in God, he falters and fails in his self-centered pursuit of success.
 

• WINNERS NEVER QUIT AND QUITTERS NEVER WIN!

 
What is your attitude to falling down? Winner or quitter?
           
Falls and even failure is neither final nor fatal for those who brush the dust off their britches and get up and go again. Do not, I repeat do not, let the devil keep you down. Boldly and confidently rise up in Christ’s righteousness. Take back what the enemy has tried to steal from you. Remember: What God has given you, belongs to you, not anyone else! Fight the good fight of faith! Overcome in Jesus’ mighty name!
 
 Have you fallen lately? Need some motivation to get back up? Adopt Micah’s inspiring battle cry for success.
 
“But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me. Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy; Though I fall I will rise, though I dwell in darkness, the Lord is a light for me.”  (Micah 7:7-8)
 
I love Micah’s fighting words! Makes me want to charge hell with a water pistol! Micah made his decision. The prophet is telling us from personal experience that if you tumble you do not have to stumble. When life trips you up, get up and get on with living. The Lord will lift you up and light your way. Tell the devil you are ready to rumble in Jesus’ name!
Victory over the enemy is not in never falling. Getting up after a fall is! Getting back up after a fall is not always easy, but it is the path to victory! Recovering from a fall in life requires fortitude, faith and a relentless resolve to rise above adversity every time calamity strikes.
 
Those who fall (that is you and me) are promised victory over falling through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ (I John 4:4, 5:4).
 
My fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, let us stop whining about life and start winning. Let us stop complaining about falls and conquer them instead. We overcome when we get up after a fall and get right back in Satan’s face in Jesus’ mighty name!
 
2023 is the time for Christians to grow up, step up and lead the way in getting back up after a life fall.
 
“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.”                                                II Corinthians 4:7-10
 
A Word For Your Week: If you want to stand tall, get right back up after a fall!