How many times have I had to hit the reset button? Too many to count! It goes all the way back to childhood. I thought I was going a particular direction and it did not work out. I went to college as an education major and received the call to preach. Today I had another conversation with a young man who has had to hit the reset button in his life. He is a young and growing believer. Through a series of bad choices, he is paying for the consequences that resulted from poor decisions. He has gotten back in right relationship with the Lord and his family, yet he knows there is a long road ahead. Whenever I see him, I try to give him some encouragement and tell him how proud I am of his willingness to own his decisions and change and hit the reset button.
At times we need to hit the reset button because we did not have all of the information we needed when we made the decision originally. Things change, and the data we based the decision on is no longer valid. Indeed, there are times when we just acted foolishly and if we could we would make a different or better choice. Too many times we get stuck in the swamp of poor decisions.

What do you do when you need to hit the reset button?

• Admit that you need a fresh start. As the saying goes: ‘when you are in a hole the first order of business is to stop digging.’ Just admit where you are and stop in order to make a change.
• Trust God to help you with the needed change(s). When a reset is necessary, there are a few things to overcome. Admitting I was wrong is one of the more painful ones for most. I did this! I created or at least help to create this problem. I am going to own it and turn it over to God and move on.
• Do not let the fear of making another wrong choice paralyze you! After experiencing a not so pleasant decision and its aftermath, you are now in a better place to chose wisely. You have more information and experiences then you did before you made the choice, decide on a new decision based on what you know today. Everyone has at some time failed and made a wrong choice. Thomas Edison is said to have found 10,000 ways not to make the lightbulb before he discovered how to create the lightbulb. Consider the fact that you now know how not to do what you just attempted!
• Forge ahead. It is nearly at epidemic levels the people who refuse to get over their choices and admit they messed up and move forward with God. It seems far more natural just to lament the fact that nothing seems to work out for me. Most people live lives of quiet desperation. Sadness seems to hang over them like a cloud. Look to God and accept His grace and pick yourself up and take a step in a new direction.

I own one of the ‘easy’  buttons from Staples. For quite a while it sat on my desk, and when I needed to make a tough decision, I would press the button. It seemed to release the stress of the moment. The easy button would make me laugh as it proclaimed loudly: “That was easy.” There is no easy button, nothing worthwhile is easy. There is a reset button: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”. (Romans 8:1) God is for you, even when you have made poor decisions. Get up and trust God and go ahead and hit the reset button.

 

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