Category Archives: Faith and Practice

Pushing the Restart Button

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As I continue in my daily struggle with all things computerized, I have learned the joyful bliss of pushing the restart button.  Restarting stops everything, shuts the computer down, and resets the system.  The restart almost always fixes the problem.  I sometimes wish life came with a restart button.

This got me thinking of all the ways we use the restart in life:

  • When there’s an error on my computer – If you’ve ever had that “blue screen of death” telling you that a fatal error has occurred, you know the wonder of the restart.  If your system updates or crashes, a restart is usually always in order.
  • When someone false-starts in a race – You’ve seen it in the Olympics, or you’ve been there yourself: on the starting line, ready for the race to start.  Just before the gun fires, someone false-starts, and everyone is called back to the starting line to try one more time.
  • In terms of foreign and domestic relations – Much was said last year about pushing the restart button in our conversations with other nations, setting a new tone in diplomacy and dialogue.  Sometimes we need to push that button in our own homes, deciding to start afresh when dealing with long-standing conflict.

Do we have a restart with God?  There are times when each of us has gone astray from God, wandered from His way, stopped listening to His word.  Is it possible to “restart” with God, to stop, go back, and reset our lives in a way that our problems will be solved?

There is, but it’s not as easy as simply pushing a button.  God does offer us a second chance, and a third, a fourth, etc… but it comes at with a price.  For us, the chance to restart with God came at the cost of God’s Son, our savior Jesus Christ.  In His love for us, Jesus paid for our sin and guilt, and through His cross, so that we can have new life.  His grace is so sufficient, His love so enduring, His sacrifice so complete, there is nothing that we have done, nor anything we can do, that He cannot overcome.  If you need a Restart today, know that by trusting in the grace and mercy in Jesus Christ, you can start anew with God.

SDG

His Voice Gives Life

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“Jesus had to say, “Lazarus, come forth!” because if He had just said, “Come forth,” all the dead would have come forth.”
Matthew Henry

Dear Friends,

While preparing or the message on Sunday, I was reminded of this quote from Matthew Henry.  Such is the power of Jesus, when He called Lazarus from the tomb (John 11:43), if he had merely said, “Come forth,” hell would have been emptied and every tomb burst open.  Here stands the one through whom all things were made, and without whom “was not anything made that was made” (John 1:3).  Standing before the tomb was the Word of God, the very Word that was spoken in creation bringing all things to life.  Jesus had to be careful what he said, there was power in His word.

What is truly amazing is that Jesus still calls us by name, calls us out of the tombs and into a new life with Him.  Each of us, at some point, or maybe even now, have lived in the tombs.  We may be living, but we are living in the ways of the world, following after the desires of our own hearts, living for ourselves.  We think we are alive, but the truth is, we are dead to the things of God.

“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8).  While we were dead in our sins, Jesus, who is the Resurrection and the Life, called us out of the tombs, out of the death of sin, and into a new life with Him.  It is important that Jesus said He is the Resurrection and the Life (and in that order), for there is no life for those who are dead unless they have first been resurrected.  As it was for Lazarus, so it is for us today.  We are dead in our sins, and Christ calls us to life. 

When Jesus calls, his call brings the grace and forgiveness that comes with His cross.  We are set free from sin and death, and set free for life with Him.  He calls us out of a life of sin, in which we lay aside the burial cloths, those sins that bound us and trapped us, and He sets us free to a life of peace and righteousness.  He has raised us, and given us life!

Friends, Jesus is calling.  He knows your name, and He loves you.  You never have to doubt His love, He demonstrated it on the cross.  If you have heard Him calling, or if you hear Him calling today, know that the One who is the Resurrection and the Life is calling you to Himself.  Rise up out of the tombs, and begin your new life in Christ.

May the joy of the Resurrection be yours!

SDG