I have now seen it half a dozen times and I’m amazed every time. When the Winter Olympics roll around, my girls are very into figure skating. We have watched at least three nights of figure skating competition at this point and the thing that impresses me most is how fast they get up after a fall! I’m thinking – these athletes are on a world stage, have trained for years, and are competing for one of the highest honors in this field; a fall must be super disappointing! I personally would want to crawl into a hole and never show my face again. But what I’m seeing is the opposite. They get up as fast as possible and keep going! Watching these athletes overcoming a fall is refreshing. I am realizing in their case that the only way to get points is to keep going. Quitting in response to a fall guarantees defeat, but getting back up means they may take a deduction or may just not get as many points as they were hoping. For their score is about the sum of an entire routine, not just the one move that resulted in the fall.

“for though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again…” (Proverbs 24:16 NIV)

I feel like this is true in our spiritual lives as well. When we fall to a challenge or even to a temptation, our effectiveness will be based on how fast we get back up, get back in the game, and get back about God’s business. The enemy would love to have us focus on the fall and not get back up. But only by getting up will we be able to re-engage in God’s work and purpose for our lives. And our effort is going after something even greater than an Olympic gold. How well are you overcoming?