Hello 2017 – Let’s Hit The Reset Button!

Well Hello. It seems we’ve met here before, but it seems it was a long time ago. Let me introduce myself… again. I’m Brian… and somehow I got lost out on the information superhighway.

Well, I didn’t actually get lost, but I did disappear! In January of 2015 I set out on a journey with a goal of posting on my website every day (and it then gets posted to email, Facebook, etc.). I didn’t quite meet the goal, but I came close with 340 posts instead of 365. So in 2016, I set out on a new journey with a slightly less ambition goal. I got 7 posts done in January and February toward that goal.

And then I stopped posting completely. I guess I achieved my less ambitious goal!
It has now been 11 months since I have posted anything.

While I could offer plenty of excuses for why I have been absent, it wouldn’t be very thrilling reading material. So instead of boring you with those details, let me just say that it is time for me to hit the reset button. I now hope to wade back into the waters. I think I will set my new goal to fall somewhere in-between my number of postings from 2015 and 2016 (So I just need to fall somewhere between the narrow range of 7 and 340 posts!). Don’t get excited about me coming back just yet. Let’s see if it actually holds up!

I did appreciate the kind words from several of you who indicated that you missed the devotional thoughts when they stopped coming. So I’m hitting the reset button and…off we go again.

Let’s think a bit more about that “reset button.” The reset button is great for gamers. You are playing a game, and it isn’t going the way you want. Hit the reset button… and start over. But we now find the reset button in all sorts of technology. You’re phone isn’t working right because you downloaded a problematic app. Pull out a paper clip, unwind the end, and press it into the tiny reset button hole… and start over.

Wouldn’t it be great if when life wasn’t going the way you wanted, if life wasn’t working just right because you made a wrong choice, and you could simply hit the reset button… and start over?

In a way, with Jesus, we can. He offers us forgiveness that cancels out our debts:
“When you were dead in your transgressions… Jesus made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.” RESET!

Our sins can still have earthly consequences that we may have to face, such as if you were speeding you might still have to pay a fine, but the spiritual consequences of eternal punishment for sin… RESET… Jesus has wiped out the consequences for you by paying for the consequences Himself.

I’m so glad that God provided me with a “reset” opportunity through Jesus and that I have received undeserved forgiveness through His grace.