For some reason, slips and falls make us laugh. In fact, it’s been the subject of entertainment since the days of silent movies.
Some time back, the once-popular TV show “America’s Funniest Home Videos” regularly aired clips of people falling. They received these snippets from contestants anxious to win a cash prize for the weekly clip voted funniest by the audience. A common submission was the antics of people caught slipping and sliding out of control and, yes, their appearance was humorous. But the outcome wasn’t. Those consequences were completely ignored because that wasn’t the focus. Being entertained was.
In truth, a fall isn’t funny. If you’ve ever taken a tumble, you know first-hand that the impact is anything but a laughing matter. To one degree or another, it’s painful. The results are cuts, bruises and broken bones and somehow the body is never quite the same. Instinctively, we know that. If we didn’t, no one would bother to try and avoid it. We’d just slip, fall and get back up. But the people caught on camera didn’t have such a cavalier attitude. They weren’t trying to entertain others; they were fighting to restore balance and avoid impact. Those clips speak volumes of our human condition.
For the most part, humanity is content to ignore the seriousness of the fall we’ve already taken. Many try to laugh it off, but the painful consequences remain. We make valiant attempts, but just can’t put ourselves back together with the wholeness that once existed. We use numbing remedies to ease the brokenness of our souls, brush off our awkward embarrassment and engage in entertainment to distract our circumstances, but the ache lingers. The power to undo our condition doesn’t lie in us, it is possible only through Jesus.
Psalm 37:23-24 says “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; for the Lord upholds him with His hand.” (NKJV) In the comfort of those words, a question arises. Who is good enough? What man or woman being of sinful nature can stand before a Holy God blameless on the merits of his own thoughts and behavior? It isn’t a multiple choice answer. There is only one box to check and it reads “No One”. We are all fallen people. We slipped on the lie that Satan placed in our path long ago and we have been doing our best to limp along in some manner of righteousness ever since.
That is a condition only God can remedy and He did. He came in the person of Jesus Christ offering healing and forgiveness to those humble enough to receive Him. A believer is deemed righteous on the merits of Jesus and His conquest over sin and death. It is only through Him that we are lifted to stand secure now, and eternally. Our response makes all the difference. “For the righteous man may fall seven times, and rise again, but the wicked shall fall by calamity.” Proverbs 24:16 (NKJV)
No one wants to be down and out permanently. God doesn’t want that for us either. He’s not willing that any should perish, but we have to decide if we’ll accept His help. Are you reeling from the impact of the fall? Look to Christ. The hands that once stretched out on a cross to break the consequences of our fall, now reach down to lift any who will trust Him.
Take hold and stand secure.
So true. Thank you once again, Sherry.