Press the reset button

When I was a little girl, quite often there were appliances dismantled and even the insides of our black and white television in pieces on the living room floor.  One of my younger brothers was the culprit, and he was the same one who fixed them and put them back in working condition.  No one trained him how.  He just figured it out.  His mind just worked that way.

To put it kindly, we all are gifted, just in different ways.  That gift is not one of mine.

My husband also thrives on unraveling such problems.  One of the helpful hints he has suggested to help me navigate our increasingly technological world is to reset.  If something isn't working the way it should -- be it the dishwasher or a computer screen that is frozen -- go all the way back to the beginning and start over. Reset and start again.  Nine times out of ten, that fixes the problem.

That is actually a very Biblical principle.  Forgiveness and redemption form the foundation of a Biblical worldview.  And it impacts every dimension of life.

The late Chuck Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship, saw that life-changing truth in his own life and those he came to know in prisons around the world.  Over and over, prisoners would say to him, "I never thought my life could amount to anything -- but maybe it can."  Colson did not give them hope, he gave them Christ. And that is what the gospel is:  the good news that God will not just fix your life, but He will make you new. 

Ask for God's forgiveness.  And let Him redeem.

It is not a reset button, but a re-life mechanism that empowers me to go all the way back, let the sacrifice of Christ cover it, and then move on in my walk with Him.  No need to be stuck.

The LORD sets the prisoner free.

                           Psalm 146. 7

Reset,
redeem,
and go forth renewed.

That which only God can do.