We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us (Romans 5: 1 - 5a, NRSV).

We do not have to look far, wide or long to see that some people approach life with stooped shoulders, bent knees and broken spirits. Why, we may even have been "one of them" at some point in our life! I have been "one of them."  But, there is a better way.

In his Epistle to the church in Rome, Paul expresses God's view of how we ought to go through life--standing tall. God created us to walk through life standing tall, as did Enoch. God's desire for us is to walk tall in life and with life in the love, grace, peace, aspiration, power, authority and hope that we have in Jesus Christ. God's heart aches when we walk through life in any other way. 

Yet, every day we are reminded that standing tall and firm in God is hard. Problems, disappointments and burdens crawl into bed with us, get up with us again in the morning, have breakfast with us, and follow us out the door to wherever we go. Even if we are blessed to start the day with tall expectations and hopes, our shoulders slump and our knees buckle as the day grinds along. Why?

Because we take on, or have forced upon us, burdens in the course of our days and life. Some are common to all of us. We can usually handle burdens related to family, children, friends, home, money, responsibilities and demanding schedules--but not always. It is these unhandled burdens and others we pick up that get the best of us and make us limp through life with bent knees, slumped shoulders, wounded hearts and brooding spirits.  

Failure to fulfill our responsibilities as well as we should or want to, guilt and shame are burdens that are often so heavy for us to bear. It is not until we trust God and embrace God's amazing, sufficient grace that we can stand tall. God does not preside over our lives like a spelling bee contest judge or a baseball game umpire. Nor does God consider failure as the final word on our lives. 

Paul believed that believers are justified by faith and not by works. So, for Paul, it is our personal relationship with God revealed in Jesus that enables us to walk through life standing up. No longer is our relationship with God one of hostility but of peace based on mutual love and our "access to grace."

God meets us where we are in our burdened lives to forgive, to liberate, to cleanse, to renew, to refresh and to re-empower us and our lives. Sometimes, we are harder on ourselves than God is on us. Though we are wonderfully made as the psalmist declares, God did not create us whole and complete. "First the seed, then the blade, and then the flower."

We learn to stand tall as we grow in faith. God is the author of this growth process. God brings us forth in stages through the power of the Holy Spirit to stand tall in the love, grace, peace, aspiration, power, authority and hope of Jesus Christ. Sometimes we must learn to stand tall by being bent with stooped shoulders, by falling down, by getting up and falling forward. Yes, you can stand tall even when the burdens seem too great to bear.

But, we must know that failure is never final. There will be more opportunities. We can try again. Moreover, God sees our failures as part of our lives, never the only part. We must accept God's forgiveness. We must embrace God's grace drawing us into the image and life of Christ who shows us how to stand tall. We must seek God's peace and trust God's faithfulness.

See Jesus hanging on the cross with outstretched arms, nailed hands and feet and pierced side carrying the burdens of guilt, shame, mistakes, hurt, pain, disappointments and failures. 

Hear Jesus speaking to you through the Holy Spirit, "The Father is gracious. Stop carrying your burdens. Give them to me. Arise now my beautiful and lovely one and stand tall. Walk tall with new meaning, purpose and mission in life. You can do it because I am with you to the end--and beyond."