If you’re a regular visitor of this blog (i.e. my mom & wife) then you’ll notice that there was no entry last week. Somewhat inappropriate I must say, considering this is supposed to be a weekly blog!
But, I decided to take this opportunity to show how much I’ve grown as an individual and a pursuer of God.
The old me would have felt it necessary to do two entries quickly in order to catch up. After all, someone is keeping score somewhere aren’t they?
And anything worth doing is worth doing well…isn’t that the way the saying goes?
Wrong!
I have come to realize that anything worth doing is…worth doing! My ability to do it doesn’t change its worth – right?
It may seem like silly semantics but it can really affect the way that some of us live. For instance, I have missed a week so now my blog isn’t perfect. I can’t look back with pride and say, “Wow, I didn’t miss a single one. I really kept on top of it!�
I can see now that I was seeking satisfaction in the wrong place. Instead of feeling good about not missing a week the Lord is showing me that I should take comfort in my ability to “get back up and keep going�.
This is a good lesson to learn seeing as I am sure to fail much more often than reach perfection in any given area.
What a weird and different perspective the Lord gives. Instead of my taking pleasure in perfection He shows me that I should take pleasure in my failures…as long as I “get back up and keep going�.
After all, scripture says:
“For the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.�
~Proverbs 24:16
The only major difference I can see in this verse is that the wicked don’t get back up!
The truth of this verse is clearly witnessed through the lives of Peter and Judas. The more I read about their accounts, the more I realize there is very little difference in what they did: both publicly rejected Jesus. In fact, Peter did it three times to one in comparison to Judas. The big distinction that we can see between the two is that Peter repented and came back to the Lord whereas Judas stayed down and eventually hung himself.
It really is funny how different worldly and godly perspectives are from each other. The world thinks that the righteous never fall; they are the picture of perfection in all they do.
God, however; says the righteous fall many times more than the wicked.
Do you want to know why?
Because they’re trying!
They’re out there attempting to live and do what the Lord says. Of course they’re going to fail at some things…but if they keep getting up and continuing on they will eventually succeed! They will press forward and attain that which they are striving for. After all, the very fact that they got back up is success in itself.
A really interesting thing about that Proverbs’ verse is the word “seven�.
“It’s just a number�, you may say, “how interesting can it be?�
And that is one way to interpret it: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 times
There are other possibilities though.
Often when the word seven is used in scripture it can mean one week. Is the author of the Proverbs trying to tell us that a righteous man may fall for one week?
Another option is indefinitely. Since the week is cyclical and continuous sometimes the number seven is used to show an indefinite number (as can be seen in Jesus’ exchange with Peter in regards to the forgiveness of sins found in Matthew 18:21).
But perhaps the one that rings most true in my spirit is reading the number seven as “the sacred full one�. Pretty much any Bible scholar can tell you that the number seven is often a prophetic image of fullness or perfection.
Using this interpretation, one could say that the righteous man fails to perfection.
In other words; he falls down, learns his lesson and gets up; falls down, learns his lesson and gets up; falls down, learns his lesson and gets up…and eventually he finds perfection through his many failures.
So, the next time you don’t meet someone’s expectations you can just let them know that you aren’t perfect…but at least now you’re one step closer.
Jason, this was just the lesson I needed to get me back to weight watchers. One time when they were congratulating a girl for losing 70lbs, they mentioned that she had never once had a gain, and I thought, “oh, I can’t have a gain.” So I haven’t been going back untill I am less than the last time I was there. Pathetic! Thanks for the wake up!
Failing to perfection, I like that. You are right about the main thing is getting back up and keeping going I remind myself lately that it’s not how you start that is important it’s hwo you finish. I want to finish well…. in fact I just want to finish with the Lord.
blessings,
Mom