When our children were young, they each received a toy called a Tomagachi. It took very little time for me to regret having given it to them. For those of you who don’t remember it, this toy fit in the palm of your hand and had a tiny computer screen with a character of some sort on it. It was a virtual pet and your job was to keep it alive. You fed it, gave it medicine, bathed it, and even cleaned up when it went to the bathroom.
The kids did well keeping them alive, until one of them went away for a week and left it home. As a mom… I couldn’t let it die!!!! (Dad would have seen this as a learning experience, but not me! lol). So, I took it everywhere with me; work, meetings, restaurants, etc. Wherever I went, it went. I was constantly cleaning, feeding, and medicating. Then, I had a lengthy meeting after work on Thursday and, when I came out, I found a precious little pair of angel wings on it’s screen. HE DIED!!!! After many frantic tears, I found that all my work to keep him alive could have been avoided. He had a RESET BUTTON that I didn’t know about!!!!
Video games today all have reset buttons or the ability to start over.
As nice as it is to be able to start fresh and begin over, it isn’t realistic. At least not in this life or world.
And there are no reset buttons in the next life or Heaven either. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 7:21.
Unfortunately, today’s children do not have a realistic view of life. They have no appreciation for our mortality.
But I am not so sure that we (as adults) have an appreciation for our mortality, either.
For the first 40 years or more, we live pretty recklessly. Most of us eat whatever we like with no regard to the long term effects on our bodies. We overindulge in alcohol or even drugs. We do ridiculously strenuous and impulsive things with our bodies. And we work like crazy people, never counting the cost it will have on our lives and our bodies.
Then, we hit middle age! Boy, do we want a reset button now. Those old knees and hips that need replacing, we wish we could go back and take better care of them. Those arteries that are clogged and diabetes that is looming. And we cannot control them without medical intervention. We wish that we had been more cautions with our diet now. Those names and precious memories that we just can’t recall, we wish we had not consumed as much alcohol and/or drugs now. Oh, what we wouldn’t give for a reset button!
But it only get’s worse, because we are all going to die. “And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment” Hebrews 9:27.
What happens then? When those angel wings show up on our screen, will we wish that there were a reset button?
We don’t have to wish. While we still have time, we just have to pray!
Because God has a reset button.
His name is Jesus.
We may not be able to change our past, what we ate, drank, or did. But we can change our future and our eternity. Ultimately, it isn’t us that changes it though. It is God.
Our sin requires a price to be paid in order that we can be restored to God and have an eternal relationship with Him. Unfortunately, that price is perfection and it is completely unattainable for mankind. But Jesus paid that price for us. He died on the cross in our place. “For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Chris.” 2 Corinthians 5:21.
When we ask Jesus to be the Lord of our lives and repent of our sins, God pushes the reset button. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9.
We get a fresh start. Thank you, Jesus! But what about those around us? What about those who do not know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior? If they don’t hit the reset button in this life, there isn’t one in the next.
If we do not share the love of Christ with those around us, they may enter eternity never having asked God to push the reset button. Never having known the only one who could save them. Never having asked Jesus for forgiveness and to be Lord of their lives. Let’s tell them what He has done for us. Let’s point them to the one who is the reset button!
Father God, we praise You that You are willing to forgive. We praise You that You made a way for that to happen. Thank you for pushing the reset button on our behalf. We thank you for Jesus! Lord Jesus, we will never understand the depths of Your love or sacrifice for us. We will never be able to sufficiently express our gratitude. We praise and thank You for paying the penalty for our sin, that we could never pay. And we thank You that You are our reset button! Holy Spirit, soften our hearts for those around us. Help us to desire to see them come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Motivate us to reach out to them and tell them that God gave us a second chance and that He is waiting to push the reset button in their lives too.
Have you ever thought that you were too bad to be forgiven by God? Have you tried to do all the right things so that you could get into heaven? Well, none of us can be good enough to get into Heaven without Jesus. And, because of Jesus, none of us are too bad to be forgiven. Thank you, Lord!
If you want God to give you a second chance and if you desire that He would push a reset button in your life, please go to our Life Preserver page (https://forgiven-n-loved.com/life-preserver/). You will find a prayer outlined on that page. If you will pray that prayer, from the bottom of your heart, and ask forgiveness for your sins, God will push the reset button in your life. You will be born again and a child of God! Please pray and once you have, let me know so that I can be in prayer with — and for — you.
Luv Ya!
