Good morning. Do you remember those television commercials that depicted an elderly woman who fell while alone in her home? Her cry for help was the point of the commercial: “Help! I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!”
Not too many years ago that issue became important to my siblings and myself as we realized that our parents had reached an age where falling was more common and they would not be able to get up on their own, nor would they be strong enough to help each other. Our answer was to convince them to move into Senior Apartments where help was always readily available. If they should fall and find themselves in any kind of a crisis someone would be immediately available to come to their rescue.
The concern over a physical fall is very real for us, all the more so as we and/or those we love age and become less capable. The time comes when we learn to swallow our pride and admit that we need help.
There is another kind of fall which we need to consider. Not the kind where we lose our balance or our footing but the kind where we fail spiritually. The times when we fall for the lies of the enemy and crash down into sin.
I would think that most if not all of us can think of a time when we suffered such a spiritual failure and fall. Sometimes those failures are difficult enough that our own efforts are not sufficient to ensure recovery. Sometimes those failures may be difficult enough that enlisting the help of loved ones and friends is not enough to bring rescue.
Those are the times when we need the hands of Jesus to claim us, calm us, care for us, and to lift us up out of the mire. We read this in Romans 3:22-25 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith.
We have all, there are no exceptions, sinned and fallen short of God’s glorious intention for our lives. But the promise of God is to be there for us, for all who believe in Christ Jesus and will call upon Him for our rescue. For we are all freely justified by His grace, redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb.
Should you suffer a spiritual fall it is good to remember that He is there with you, reaching out to you, forgiving your failure and restoring your righteousness. In Jesus we are always rescued!
Vern