Getting Up Again - Homeword - February 9
Getting Up Again
This devotional was written by Dan Johnson
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. —Hebrews 12:1
At the end of the hurdles competition, with one hurdle to go, my son, Alec, was well in the lead. Then, as the crowd watched and his mom and I gasped, his left foot caught the top of the hurdle, and he landed full force with both knees slamming against the cinder track.
In a split second, my son hit the ground and did something really amazing. Without hesitating, he was on his feet, back in the race, and finished third. Then they took him to the sidelines and cleaned out his wounds. With bandaged legs and bloodied arms, he ran and jumped and competed for the next hour and a half. In my book, the boy became a man and won a first-place ribbon in the only race that matters: the race of life.
It does not matter how many times you’ve messed up or fallen short of your goals or values. The only time anyone can count you out in life is when you don’t get up again.
In the New Testament (Colossians 1:27), we find this awe-inspiring phrase: “Christ in you the hope of glory.” If Jesus Christ is in us, we have an irresistible force, a Something, a Someone who is the very essence of “up.” A rubber ball doesn’t stop and wonder what it’s going to do when it hits the ground; it bounces! If Christ is in us, we get up – it’s not about us. If we feel we’ve failed too many times and we manage to get up again, then His grace is even more wonderful.
Spurned defeat doesn’t make us look bad; it makes Him look good. It is God’s spunk in us, and nothing is impossible with Him. Even if we’re down, we don’t have to be down for the count because “He who began a good work in us” will finish it through us. That’s the lesson from the track, from the office, from the home.
As a follower of Christ, get that sense in your soul that is deeper than the level of feeling. Hold onto that which is holding on to you. Get up again, it’s not over until He says it’s over. And even then, the fun hasn’t even begun.
GOING DEEPER:
1. Do you struggle with something and feel like you’re never going to overcome it?
2. What would it be like today to “lean heavy” on God and let Him empower your run?
FURTHER READING:
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