You Can't Dust Yourself Off Until You Pick Yourself Up

Pick yourself up
Dust yourself off
Start over again

Have you ever tried to do these out of order? Say you've fallen into the dirt. You first dust yourself off... then you get up. Small problem - you're still dusty because, well, hello.... you were still sitting in the dust when you tried to dust yourself off. It just doesn't work to mix this order up.

This goes for many things in life.

Accept Christ as your Savior
Repent your sins to Christ
Follow Christ

You can't very well follow someone you don't accept. You can't repent to Him if you haven't accepted Him. It just doesn't work to mix up this order.

Now, these both seem relatively self-explanatory (although, many of us still try to mix 'em up).

But what about when it's something a little more convoluted. For example... someone betrays you (or, at least, you perceive it as a betrayal)... you forgive the person. But, you still don't accept what has happened, and you still blame God and/or are angry with God for allowing this betrayal....

This is out of order. It doesn't work. You claim to forgive the person... but then you get angry with God... and the next thing you know, you're angry again at the person. You haven't truly accepted the course of events, and therefore you're trying to dust yourself off while you're still sitting in the muck.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I find myself mixing up the order quite a bit. I find myself dusting myself off when I'm still sitting in the dirt. I find myself showering while sitting in a mud puddle. I find myself unsuccessfully draining myself emotionally because I'm trying to do things backwards.

For me, this is particularly true when someone I care about hurts me. I am hurt and angry, but I do care about the person and therefore forgive the person... before I have forgiven myself; before I have forgiven God; before I have asked God for forgiveness; before I have even laid the problem at God's feet and asked for His help.  All this does is keep the hurt and anger aimed at the original person... the dust is still there.

If you find yourself caught in a loop... unable to truly let go of something.... take a step back and take a good look. Are you trying to dust yourself off before you even pick yourself up?