Do you have community?

Don’t interfere with good people’s lives; don’t try to get the best of them. No matter how many times you trip them up, God-loyal people don’t stay down long; soon they’re up on their feet, while the wicked end up flat on their faces. (Proverbs 24:15-16)

H.G. Wells tells us, "If you fell down yesterday, stand up today." There are times when we fall down more than we stand. We try something and fail. We try again and fail in a different way. Standing might just be harder than we thought! If you haven't figured it out yet, we don't always fall by our own doing. There are times when the external influences exert more pull than the internal. What is amazing though is that a child of God is seldom 'down' for long. There is something within them that calls them to 'rise again' and face whatever tripped them up with a fresh look and a new determination.

Satan my try to get the best of us, but he doesn't stand a chance against God's goodness and grace. He may present many tripping points meant to make us fall into temptation and give into sin, but even the most cleverly presented of these points is nothing compared to the resilience God gives his children in the face of attack. Resilience is that ability to return to form or position, even after being bent, pressed, or stretched beyond that form or position. That is what God's presence does within us - it gives us resilience to return to a place of grace and sinlessness even if we fall. 

If we fell down, would we get back up? Some falls are easy to recover from - we can almost 'bounce back' without much of an issue. Others might just require us to have a little help to 'right ourselves' again. This is why it is important to live life in community with other believers. We need help to 'right ourselves' from time to time, because we don't always realize what tripped us up, making us fall in the process. When we have community, we have resources that help us return to grace quickly. They don't allow us to stay down long - helping us to 'be up on our feet' even when we don't see a way to 'get back up'.

No matter how many times... It is likely we will fall more than once over the same tripping point, especially when we aren't paying attention. Community helps here, as well. There is wisdom in having those around that can see what we cannot! Just sayin!