"Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall."

                            -I Corinthians 10:12 

As Christians, a lot of times it is easy for us to think that we are beyond making a mistake, or turning our back on the Lord. We get in our heads that we are too righteous to become unrighteous, too holy to become unholy, and too perfect to ever mess up. However, it has been my observation that such an attitude is usually an indication that we've already faltered, in that we have succumbed to the sin of pride, and thus aren't as close to God as we think we are anyway. Rather than encouraging the Corinthians to hop up on their high-horses and look down on everybody else, the apostle Paul urged them  to "take heed lest they fall." He realized that nobody is so close to God that they are beyond messing up.

Take the story of Peter, for example. When Jesus told him that he (Peter) would deny the Lord three times before the cock crowed, Peter immediately claimed he would gladly die with Jesus and would never deny Him (Matthew 26:31-35). How quickly that changed when Jesus was dragged before Caiaphas, the High Priest, to be put to death and Peter stood on the sidelines saying nothing - that is, until he was asked if he knew Jesus, at which time he denied Him with curses and swearing (Matthew 26:69-75). Not only did he mess up, but he made himself look terrible considering his previous claims of loyalty and faithfulness.

Let's take a lesson from Peter's failure and always retain a spirit of humility before the Lord, "...for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble." (I Peter 5:5) The fact is, humility makes us much less likely to fall as opposed to being prideful; not to mention the fact that when a prideful person falls, they usually make a fool of themself in the process.

"A man's pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit."

                            -Proverbs 29:23