I have been going up the step from the back porch into the laundry room for over 25 years. I never look down, and I never fall--until the other morning. And as I fell I just had time to say to myself, “There is nothing you can do about this,” and splat! Rug rash on both elbows and one knee. In fact, the right knee hit so hard that a layer of skin embedded itself into my leggings, and when I pulled them off to check for bleeding, the skin stuck to them instead of me. Worst abrasion I ever had in my life, plus achy hip, achy neck, and a headache that started in the afternoon and would not leave no matter what I took. At least I did not break anything, not even the floor. Do I need any more proof that Keith did not marry me for my grace?
And yet, as rough a fall as that was, it is nothing compared to a spiritual fall. And should I think that a saved person cannot fall, hear Paul’s warning to the Galatian brethren: You who would be justified by the law are severed from Christ; you are fallen away from grace. Gal 5:4. If they can be severed from Christ, they were once in Him; if they can fall from grace, they once stood upon its peak. As Paul said earlier in the epistle, I should not listen to anyone who tells me otherwise, not even an angel from heaven.
And that fall will not bring skinned knees and an aching neck. For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, their last state is worse than the first. 2 Pet 3:20. That fall will cost my soul. My bruises and abrasions will eventually heal, but spiritual injuries will not, without repentance.
Isn’t it interesting how many physical terms the Holy Spirit uses to get across his point? Perhaps any physical fall we take should make us stop and examine where we stand spiritually as well. We might stop just in time, one step before the edge, and save ourselves a headlong spiritual fall that will cost us more than a little skin.
They also that seek after my life lay snares for me, and they that seek my hurt speak mischievous things, and meditate deceits all the day long…In you O Jehovah, do I hope. You will answer, O Lord my God. For I said, lest they rejoice over me. When my feet slip, they magnify themselves against me. For I am ready to fall, and my sorrow is continually before me…Forsake me not, O Jehovah. O my God, be not far from me. Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation. Psalm 38:12, 15-17, 21, 22.
Dene Ward
And yet, as rough a fall as that was, it is nothing compared to a spiritual fall. And should I think that a saved person cannot fall, hear Paul’s warning to the Galatian brethren: You who would be justified by the law are severed from Christ; you are fallen away from grace. Gal 5:4. If they can be severed from Christ, they were once in Him; if they can fall from grace, they once stood upon its peak. As Paul said earlier in the epistle, I should not listen to anyone who tells me otherwise, not even an angel from heaven.
And that fall will not bring skinned knees and an aching neck. For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, their last state is worse than the first. 2 Pet 3:20. That fall will cost my soul. My bruises and abrasions will eventually heal, but spiritual injuries will not, without repentance.
Isn’t it interesting how many physical terms the Holy Spirit uses to get across his point? Perhaps any physical fall we take should make us stop and examine where we stand spiritually as well. We might stop just in time, one step before the edge, and save ourselves a headlong spiritual fall that will cost us more than a little skin.
They also that seek after my life lay snares for me, and they that seek my hurt speak mischievous things, and meditate deceits all the day long…In you O Jehovah, do I hope. You will answer, O Lord my God. For I said, lest they rejoice over me. When my feet slip, they magnify themselves against me. For I am ready to fall, and my sorrow is continually before me…Forsake me not, O Jehovah. O my God, be not far from me. Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation. Psalm 38:12, 15-17, 21, 22.
Dene Ward
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