I recently listened to a sermon where the preacher relived his memories of playing video games as a boy. Whenever a game wasn’t going someone’s way, he said, all they had to do was dive for the reset button. And just like that, the playing field was even again.

Wouldn’t it be great if life came with a reset button? There’d never be any need for anxiety, fear or regret. If things don’t turn out just as we like, the button would be waiting. This idea is not as far- fetched as we might imagine. In Isaiah 43: 19-20, God spoke through the prophet, saying ‘Behold, I will do a new thing…I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert…to give drink to My people, My chosen.” Hundreds of years later, Jesus was offering living water to the woman at the well of Samaria.

When God first told Abram that all nations of the world would be blessed through his seed (Genesis 12:3), it may have seemed like pie in the sky. After all, the man didn’t even have one child to call his own. And neither he nor his wife was getting any younger. Well, Isaac came. Then Jacob and his twelve sons followed, blossoming into the nation of Israel.

Even then, the promise seemed shaky. The Israelites couldn’t quite seem to embrace their God intended role, ending up scattered and in captivity. They emerged from bondage with a new focus on God’s word, but in time, their zeal for the law evolved into legalism. The spirit of God’s law was set aside for the letter, and appearances carried the day.

So what did God do? He sent His Son, to dwell among men in the flesh. Jesus, fully God and fully man, came to demonstrate what a sinless life looks like. And having accomplished that, He offered Himself in our place, a perfect and blameless sacrifice to take away the sins of the world. And now, through the blood of Jesus, we have boldness to approach the throne of grace, having been made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

“O Death, where is your sting? O Hell, where is your victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But THANKS BE TO GOD, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” (1 Corinthians 15:55-57)

We may not have the ability to turn back time, but God is abundantly able to turn things around. Jesus is the ultimate reset of history, of God’s story, of yours and mine. Because of Jesus, we ALWAYS have hope for a New Beginning.

Amen!! Be blessed,

R

Image attribution:

http://colebradburn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/reset.png