It’s amazing we all have our very own default settings. It took a while for me to find out where my "back" and "exit" buttons were. They were there, but I was still blind to that fact. I did not even know I had a "homepage", so my "computer" was pretty messed up and was infected by some viruses. Every time I added staff, I did not like it, but I did not know how to "undo" it, so I painted that part black and moved on to something else. As we all know, "life happens", so every time I do something foolish, I want to erase that part and do something smart instead. But again, I did not know my back-button, so once more I painted it. This time I used a different colour to make it look "artistic" and pretty, but that did not take away the foolishness.
Stay with me, I’m headed somewhere with this.
We all have that one thing that we always go back to. Some people call it a "kryptonite." That which weakens you and has the power to kill you. I wouldn’t call it a thorn in the flesh, but rather an enemy of progress.
For some, it’s an addiction that they keep going back to even after vowing to change. For others, it’s a relationship that they keep going back to, yet they know in their hearts they deserve better. They keep dating the same "type" of person. The only difference is the names. They end up saying all men and women are the same. For others, it’s just depression. They laugh and play and pray and dance with people in church, but when they get home, when all the applications have been closed, they slowly slip back to gossiping, slandering, mocking people, and so they end up looking bipolar. For some, they have gone through so much that they lose touch with their emotions. They just don’t seem to feel things anymore. So they adopt a tough exterior to cover up the brokenness they feel inside. It’s a form of dysfunction that you keep going back.It’s like your home. No matter what happens, you just can’t seem to catch a break or even leave the crazy cycle. Every time the cycle repeats, it forms a kind of "default setting" that is engraved in their mind so they embrace it and accept it as being who they are. So with time, it becomes their "default setting."
Your default setting is meant to be the original you that God created. The "undo", and "exit" buttons are made available by God once you accept Christ and are forgiven for all your sins. Once you fall into sin as a believer, you hit undo through prayer by asking for forgiveness. You use the exit button by believing that you have been forgiven and by actually forgiving yourself and choosing to leave the page of condemnation.
The reason why it’s easy for one to adopt the dysfunctional default setting is that, in most cases, it’s easier to fall back on what is familiar than to embrace a new way of doing things. Familiar territory brings with it comfort, no challenge, and a lot of relaxation, but it also brings stagnation and, shortly after death, the power of Christ’s resurrection can uninstall everything we have put on ourselves or life has put on us, and completely wipe the slate clean. He has the power to return us to our factory settings, where everything is brand new, as if it has never been used before, exactly as he designed it. He has the power to undo intense damage that has been caused over the years and to give a new, clean heart and to renew the spirit. He does not just forgive us of all our sins, but cleans us up, heals us from all our bruised emotions, hurtful memories, and difficult pasts, and restores us. He says; Joel 2:25-27 (Amplified Bible)
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