Freefall Ain’t Free

When Adam and Eve transgressed for the first time, we call that the Fall, with a capital F. When we commit our own sins and transgressions, we also call that falling. When an object like the International Space Station is in orbit around the Earth, it is in a perpetual state of falling. God’s love and His grace and the power of His Atonement is infinite, so it is impossible for us to fall hard or fast or long enough to completely escape His influence, but when we sin, we can fall and lose our footing on the firm ground of a solid foundation. We will always be nearer to God than we would like, but until we repent, we will continue to fall around and around. At first glance, being in never-ending freefall may not sound so bad. There is no weight of responsibility or expectations weighing us down. But remaining in freefall for extended periods can be hazardous to our spirits, just as it can be hazardous to the bodies of astronauts who remain in orbit for extended periods of time. Muscles atrophy, bones become brittle, even hearts weaken. These aren’t the only dangers. The farther out from Earth, the less shielding there is from cosmic rays and other harmful forms of radiation that can rewrite our DNA and lead to cancer or worse. Also, you start to lose sense of time or place. The International Space Station orbits the Earth every 90 minutes or so. That means you see the sun rise and set dozens of times a day. The only thing keeping you from being exposed to the hard vacuum of space is a thin metal container. You are also incredibly alone and isolated and cut off from the rest of society. These are the same kind of dangers we face when we fall. When we sin and fall and lose our way, our spiritual muscles and bones start to weaken. Our heart no longer sings the song of redeeming love. If we fall long enough, the harmful radiation and fiery darts of the adversary can rewrite our spiritual DNA, robbing and mutating our faith and hope and allowing malignant tumors of hate and fear and enmity grow within us. We lose all sense of eternal perspective and the days flicker past us without having any real meaning. We try to protect ourselves from the harsh reality of our situation by constructing thin skins of justification and rationalization, but these can be shattered easily exposing us to the harsh reality of our own personal hells where we can’t breathe and we start to freeze in the hard vacuum of depression and despair and the anguish of a damned soul. But if we repent, and come back down to the Rock of Our Redeemer, then we don’t need to fall anymore. We can be sure of our place in the world. We can have air to breathe and warmth and the freedom to move about and carry out God’s will. Our spiritual muscles and bones will grow strong wrapped up in the embrace and gravity of God’s love and our heart will beat out once more the song of redeeming love. We all fall time and time again, but when we repent, we can come back down to solid ground and strengthen our relationship with God an be healed.