Life sure has a way of knocking us down, doesn’t it? And when we are down we have a choice … stay down, or get up. What will your choice be today? What will you do when plans fall apart? What will you do when things don’t work out? What will you do when you’re disappointed? Will you stay down, or will you get back up?

Yesterday in my church, our pastor takes the stage and says “Jesus got back up.” He repeated it over and over again. Jesus got back up. Oh yes he did. He got back up.

You know the story having just celebrated Easter. Jesus had been buried in a tomb on Friday after being crucified on the cross. On Saturday the world fell silent. On Sunday women came to his tomb and found the stone had been rolled away. The tomb was empty. Two angels appeared to them and said in Luke 24: 6

“He is not here; he has risen.”

Jesus got up. No, what happened on that cross wasn’t a bad dream. He did die. We did bury him, but he’s not here any more. He got up. He got up. He got up.

And this is what God is asking you and I to do today. Get up.

The first quarter of 2018 may not have gone as you had planned. Okay, welcome to the 2nd quarter, now get up. There may have been unfair things that happened to you and I’m truly sorry, now get up. You didn’t deserve to be knocked down, but do you deserve to have to stay down? If you stay down, you keep yourself there. You can get up now.

Jesus left the grave behind him, now it’s your turn. Leave the grave behind you. Whatever has held you back in the past does not have to bind you today. Whatever tripped you up and caused you to stumble can be your history and it’s not part of your destiny. Leave it behind.

You know what I love about Jesus? Well, there’s a whole lot of things I love about Jesus, but I love that he went through Hell for us, hung there on the cross and took on every sin and sickness on my behalf and your behalf, fully surrendered his life for you and I, was put in the grave where he stayed for 3 days … then he got up without the continual need to rehash all he had just gone through.

When he showed back up with the disciples he was like “I’m here now. What’s done is done, that’s over now, I’m here and we have work to do.”

As you get back up today, resist the urge to rehash how bad getting knocked down was. Don’t relive that crap. Don’t you know that’s what keeps you down? You’re only making it harder on yourself. Why would you reread that text message that rips your heart apart – delete it already. Why would you let the whole scene replay in your mind on a loop? Be done with it. When those images and thoughts start replaying in your mind, you change the channel. The remote for your life is in your hand. You choose what you think about. You choose what you talk about.

It’s done. You can’t go back and change it. It’s over and maybe it really sucked. But you’re here now and you have work to do.

Get up.

You say, well just because Jesus got up doesn’t mean it will be that easy for me to get up. And you’re right – you’re not Jesus and it won’t be easy. But it is necessary. It is necessary for you to get up today and move forward. It is necessary for you to show up for your life and do what needs to be done. It is necessary for you to carefully choose your thoughts and your words so you don’t get stuck again.

Wherever you once were in life, let it be said of you – oh, she’s not here anymore, she has risen. Yeah, maybe you were the girl who was really dealt a bad hand with your childhood, but you’re not there anymore, you have risen. Maybe you were the woman who went through one heck of a divorce and it nearly killed you, but you’re not there anymore, you have risen. Maybe you’ve had some setbacks some hard knocks and you’ve struggled with depression and anxiety, but you’re not there anymore, you have risen.

How have you risen? YOU GOT UP.

You got up because Jesus got up. He showed you how to leave the grave behind. He showed you how to rise up and get to work. And he has given you the strength to do it for yourself now.

It’s getting up time. Get up in your spirit. Get up in your thoughts. Get up in your conversations. Get up in your commitments. Get up and show up. That’s what time it is. It’s getting up time. Rise up.
Oh yes, play a little Andra Day and listen to Rise Up, one of my favorite songs. It says
And I’ll rise up
I’ll rise like the day
I’ll rise up
I’ll rise unafraid
I’ll rise up
And I’ll do it a thousand times again