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Life Has a Restart Button

 

Wouldn't it be wonderful if the only actions that had consequences were the ones with the consequences you wanted? Then you could do something, and if you didn't like the way it was turning out, you could simply hit a RESET button. That would be great!

I have occasionally traded a few small stocks. There is some risk. Every time a stock is exchanged, someone is betting it will go up and someone is betting it will go down. I've bought some stocks believing they would go up. I just knew they would. But they did not, and I lost. I wanted a RESET button. It would have been great. I could have hit the RESET and all the loss would have been immediately recovered. And, when the trade went well, I could just hold onto it and enjoy the growing profits.

Just think of what you could do with one of those buttons in life. You could get rid of every negative consequence; just hit the RESET button and watch them evaporate away. Bad investment, hit the RESET button. Unwanted pregnancy, hit the RESET button. Relationship problems, hit the RESET button. Bought a car that is giving you problems, hit the RESET button. This could be our new favorite button  for life! Don't like it? Hit RESET and it all goes away!

It would be so incredible! You could do anything you wanted knowing you could erase all the consequences because your RESET button was one push away.

I am sure David wished he had a RESET button. It would have saved him from a lot of problems. That one night stand wouldn't have changed his life, at least not as much. Bathsheba's husband wouldn't have been a problem to him. All he needed was a RESET button.

But David didn't have a RESET button. So he couldn't stop the consequences of his sin. That son would die. And more sons would die, until four were dead as a consequence of his sin. If ever a man wanted a RESET button, David did.


There is always a cost to sin and it is always more than you thought it would be. 


The problem is, there is no RESET button in life. You don't get to push a button, even one of faith, and make all the consequences of your choices and actions go away. They will forever be a part of the fabric of your life.

But, God does offer us a RESTART button. It does not RESET life and it doesn't always get rid of the consequences that we've set in motion. The time and resources and opportunities you have squandered are still lost. The effects of sin on your soul and the souls of others are real and they will need the help of God to heal. But, it is a real opportunity to pick ourselves up from our failure, brush the dust off, make needed adjustments and head toward the finish line. God's forgiveness is real. And the opportunity to get up and start again is real. You can RESTART and finish the race.

David's sin cost him. It changed the way people saw him. It affected their confidence in him. And those changes alone brought their own share of horrendous consequences. Don't be fooled. There is always a cost to sin and it is always more than you thought it would be. But you can start over. You can close that chapter and follow it with the fresh start of another one.

What about the consequences from past sin? Once a real change of heart has occurred, the discipline of God ceases,  for there is no more reason  for it. Furthermore, He will aid you in the days ahead, even to the working out of all things  for your good. God has good plans, a future and a hope  for you, even after your chapter eleven failure. After all, it was He who came to you, who took the first steps to redeem and restore you.


Pastor Mark 


 

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