By: Elizabeth Haarberg

Push the Reset

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking this SoundCloud link.

Things are slow and quiet around our house right now. Everyone’s situation is a little different, but the question that keeps coming up during this time is, “Why do I do what I do?” “Why do I make the choices I make?”

This is not condemnation or guilt but a simple self-evaluation. With all that’s going on in the world, this is the perfect time for a reset.

A few years ago I was having a hard time, so to reset I would grab a blanket, curl up on the floor and sleep there. I was conscious about the reset. I knew if I could break down all I needed in that moment to a floor with a blanket and God, I could get to the bare necessities. 

Detaching doesn’t mean we sell everything we have and move. We can do a reset in our homes, in our jobs, in our current situation. It means peeling away all the things the world says we need for comfort and resetting the core of our hearts on God. Once we reset, the ‘why’ of life starts to become clearer.

In Acts the people that were filled with the Holy Spirit had all things in common and they shared all they had with one another.

“And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.”
Acts 2:44-45 English Standard Version

The new Christians’ ‘why’ became very clear, very fast. Detaching was not required but a privilege. Giving all they had to each other was central to their purpose in spreading the love of Christ through the Gospel. This act can’t be done without the Holy Spirit, though. The other side of our nature, if it’s not sold out to Christ, wants to be God instead of being like Him. Power, control, and selfish ambition are weaved in parallel with the giving nature of true Christianity.

The ‘why’ in our lives will continue to confuse and lead us down dead ends until we kneel and receive the love of Christ and His Spirit. The gospel is so simple even an infant understands, which is great news! Everyone is invited.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado