Good morning everyone,

Proverbs 24:16-for the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.

When you read something like this and consider the reality of being a Christian, if we are not sure where our confidence lies we can easily see “falling” as being so shameful we will deny it, instead of repent of it. One of the great things about finding someone to confess your faults to is that you usually trust that individual to be understanding and merciful regarding your struggles. The reason is because they too are honest and open about their own. This kind of fellowship is only develops if both individuals are battling in their own lives to “rise again”.

The Cross of Christ where Jesus payed for our sins “to clear us of all violations” against the Father must be the place we go to first to realize that if we “fall” we can recover from it. Consistent confession to God is the key to gaining trust with Him to realize that He is not after condemning us in our guilt of sin, but convicting us to return to Him that we honor Jesus’ work on the Cross. So when we do fail God and come short of His glory, we can then honor Him again by admitting our wrong doing and receive mercy and grace to be faithful again (Hebrews 4 v16). This battle is to the death, or until Christ returns.

To rise again from the constant moral failures we have as Christians must come from a heart that is devoted to Christ as their confidence. Everyone has their confidence somewhere, it maybe in their family, job, money, etc. But confidence in those things cannot relieve the conscience from sin and the guilt that eventually affects all of those (Hebrew 10 v2,3). So to neglect the need to battle in order to rise again is much more dangerous than we might think. Because as long as we are battling against our sin, we affirm that there is the “righteous seed” of Christ in us, so we can’t just be comfortable in “a fallen state” (1 John 3 v9). So battling is good. However if we try and battle the guilt of our failure without a genuine confession to return in faithfulness (repentance) we then put ourselves in the place of the wicked. So when those things we had a misplaced confidence in break down, we find ourselves in despair, leaving no witness to the everlasting hope in Christ to rise again!

In His Love, Ld