One More Comeback

In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

1 Peter 1:3 (NIV)

Nothing in this life can deny you one more comeback.

I don’t care how confusing this life gets. I don’t care how many walls you proverbially bump up against. I don’t care how busy the enemy has been lately in your life. Every time you get knocked down and somebody inches up beside you to whisper, “Is this the time that you’re going give up?” you can look up with whatever strength you have left and testify: “I don’t know how many more times I have, and I don’t know how my energy is going to stretch, but I know that if God woke me up this morning, then I’ve got at least one more comeback. And because I’ve got one more comeback, I’m going to give it my best.” 

You may have heard of Louis Pasteur. He was the pioneer of immunology. He lived at a time when thousands of people were dying each year from rabies. Pasteur had worked for years trying to create a successful vaccine to that disease, and just as he was about to begin experimenting on himself, a nine-year-old boy named Joseph Meister was bitten by a rabid dog. The boy’s mama found Pasteur and pleaded with him to experiment on her son. Pasteur injected Joseph for ten straight days, and as a result, the boy lived. 

Decades later, Pasteur selected the words that would be on his tombstone. Of all the things that he could have etched on it—including all his accomplishments, discoveries, accolades, and experience—he instead chose this simple inscription: Joseph Meister lived.

When I read about that story, my soul caught on fire because the message I’m trying to convey to you is that you’ve got one more comeback in you—not because Joseph Meister lived, but because Jesus lived and still lives. His resurrection is the evidence that there is life for you to yet live and work for you to yet accomplish. Because Jesus lives, you’ve got at least one more comeback!