Falling on Our Own

When my oldest son was about eight years old, he was tousling with his little brother, a toddler at the time. As most wrestling matches between brothers have a way of doing, it turned south quickly. Crying followed and I knew I needed to intervene.

I emerged onto the scene with the oldest son standing upright looking sheepish and the younger son laying flat on the ground wailing. Immediately, I made the assumption of which child was guilty and I frustratingly asked, “Son, did you push your little brother down??”

To which he honestly replied, “Yes, I did push him. But, he fell over all on his own!”

Sounds absurd, right? Clearly, the older son was at fault. However, it made me think. . .

How often do I let sin not just push me, but actually push me down? I am a child of God, born again in Christ Jesus. I have the Holy Spirit living in me. I have learned scripture throughout my life that should serve to guide and protect me. And yet… I still fall prey to gossip. Unkind words still come from my mouth. I can lose my temper over minor things. I can quickly get caught in a downward fall of comparison and covetousness. The Apostle Paul said it like this in Romans 7:19, “I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.”

In other words, sin may present the timely nudge in my circumstances, but I fall over all on my own.

We will be perfect in this life. Our good Heavenly Father knows that fully. We can free ourselves of the chains of guilt and shame. However, the longer we walk with Jesus, we should see a stronger spirit within us. Our ability to resist sin should grow in strength and endurance as we draw deeper and deeper from the power of God within us. Slowly, but surely we should begin to see that we don’t “fall down quite so easily.”

“The same God that rose Jesus from the grave, lives in us” Romans 8:11

Father, when sin comes lurking, remind us who we are in you! Sin may push, but we do not have to fall down. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

• Mysti Chustz has been following Jesus since she was six years old.
• She is a wife, mother, daughter, sister, aunt, and friend. Her most favorite roles are being wife to Philip and mama to Coleman, Mary Lamar, and Clay.
• If one verse was used to describe her life, it would be Philippians 1:6. “Be confident of this, the One who starts the work in you is faithful to complete the work in you.”