The Struggle is Real

Falling down hurts, but staying down hurts worse. Who can you encourage today to get up and keep moving?

for the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.

Proverbs 24:16 ESV

     It's a very common situation for a person to give up in times of adversity.  When you give it your all and your all doesn't appear to be enough, why not give up?  Really, no one cares.  So what if you didn't make it to the end, at least you tried.

     Not according to the Bible.  Indisputably, Solomon, was the wisest person in the history of the world.  According to him the righteous person will not fall (fail) and stay down (accept defeat).  But though he fall seven times, he will keep getting up!  So why do we stay down?  I'm sure there are many reasons we allow ourselves to give up.  In my own experience I would say the number one reason for accepting failure is really a conglomerate of many little reasons that present themselves at the same time:

All of the times I heard, "you can't do that, there is no way.  You aren't good enough.  Your parents couldn't, your grandparents couldn't, what makes you think you can?  What, you're suddenly better than everyone?

Next comes rationalization.  Wow!  You almost made it.  Oh well, you gave it a heck of a try.  Maybe someday, but right now I'm good on it.  I'm tired of trying and besides, I don't have to prove anything to anybody.  I could care less what people think of me.

Finally justification.  So what?  I'm only human.  It's not my fault, I didn't have a good childhood.  I wasn't taught how to do this as a child so I'm really not capable.  No one can expect me to be able to do this.  It's not fair.  

     Now for many of us, we're able to deal with our failures.  We've had lots of practise.  But the danger lies within.  This type of mentality can lead to depression, separating ourselves from loved ones, substance abuse or even suicide.  Failure begins to eat at us, from the inside.  All the voices start coming at us.   "See, told you so!"  "You're worthless!"  "You will never change."  We begin to stumble in our adversity.   This doesn't mean we are inheritantly bad, it just means we shouldn't give up on ourselves.  That just because we made a bad choice that lead us into a tough situation we should quit trying.  No, we should get up, dust ourselves off and try again.  Learn from the past and push forward.  There is always a solution to every problem.

     Today we are learning about ourselves, but let's take this to the next level.  We all know someone that is struggling.  No matter what they do, they seem to end up in the same place where they started.  Don't leave them there to flounder.  Reach out.  Encourage them.  Let them know you understand that the struggle is real.  Let them know God sees their pain and loves them through it.  We aren't designed to do this alone.

     A very wise man once told me that we all need a Paul and a Timothy in our lives, to make us whole.  A Paul to learn from and a Timothy to teach. To add to this, I believe we all should be someone's Paul and we should be someone's Timothy.

Don't let someone you know suffer alone.  Love them like you love God, love them like you love yourself!

     Thanks for following along.  If you would like to know more about Jesus, or what it looks like to be a Christian, get in contact with a local bible believing church.  Or feel free to contact me Ron Whitener at rlwhitener01@gmail.com