Weekend Talk: Spiritual resetting

Then the time came for us to welcome newcomers at church, a young man of about 25 years came forward holding a piece of paper.

 He had tears in his eyes, and his face looked sad and miserable.  

He introduced himself as a troubled man, and that his biggest problem was how to overcome five main issues that he had listed on a piece of paper:  stealing, masturbating, drug-abuse, prostituting, and violence.

Then the truth dawned on me, that the church is like a hospital to which the spiritually sick come to seek divine healing, or a home to which the wayward returns to find comfort and fellowship.

The reason he was at church was that, as he put it, he was fed up with that kind of life and wanted to change to a better, more meaningful lifestyle.

Put another way, the visiting young man was looking for a spiritual way to reset his life.

He felt himself going down the drain, treading on a dangerous path to a looming destruction; and, wisely, he sought to change for the better.

Resetting agenda

By seeking to turn back from waywardness to a better life, the young man was pursuing a resetting agenda.

The word “reset” has been elevated from being an ordinary expression in our everyday vocabulary to become a national terminology, especially since the president began using it to describe his vision for this country.

But, as a matter of facts, it behooves on everybody to come to a point in our life when we must embark on a reset agenda.

This calls for deep thinking, wisdom, sacrifice, and a serious form of self-discipline to say “no” to wrong and “yes” to right.

Reset simply means to rearrange, reorganise, or change things for the better.

It means to turn back when you notice that you’re heading for the ditch.  

Like the young man who came to church, those who notice evil happenings in their life and embark on a resetting schedule are wise indeed.

For it is a mark of foolhardiness to find yourself on an evil path and keep on going till disaster strikes!

Resetting humanity

One day, when sin had taken over human hearts and people had deserted God and were plunging into eternal damnation, God, in his great mercy, reset humanity’s destiny.

In his great mercy, God broke our headlong fall to disaster by giving us new birth into a living hope.

Anybody who has listened to evangelistic teachings anywhere knows that God’s resetting agenda was done through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (1 Peter 1:3).

Those who know John 3:16 understand how God reset humanity’s fate: Jesus died to save us.

The apostle Paul re-echoes this truth when he says God “made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions" (Ephesians 2:4-5).

Personal resetting

Resetting is a revolutionary idea depending on the depth of the need for it.

And, here, I’m thinking about the story of the prodigal son who wasted his inheritance on irresponsible living away from home.

He became so poor and miserable that he longed for pig food but couldn’t get it.

The Lord Jesus, who told this story about the kingdom of God, said when the prodigal son came to his senses, he repented and returned to his father who received him back into the family.

That was a definite resetting on the part of the prodigal son, and everybody needs to embark on some form of personal resetting in their life.

 It is the reason why people do self-introspection at the beginning of the year and make resolutions.

The best resolution, or resetting, which should not be confined to the beginning of the year only, is the resolution that enables us to seek God, invite Christ in our life, turn away from evil, and do what is right.

Such proper resetting is what Paul refers to when he says, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind . . .” (Romans 12:2). 

Renew your mind

The call for resetting, be it in politics, personal life, family integration, or workplace productivity is a call for the renewing of mindsets leading to transformation.

Unless we are willing to change from the old ways of doing things, we will not be able to do new things.

But resetting requires focus, determination, discipline, and self-control.

Change doesn’t happen overnight, but whoever desires change must pursue it diligently.

The young man who came to church was led to Christ.

As a new believer, he would need to draw close to God in prayer and the Word of God and stick to church life.

That is how he, and each of us, would overcome wrongdoing as we reset our life for the better.