Reset. Restore. Run.

Something that I am quick to tell my youth group is I will always be honest.

This is not a humble brag, but rather a confession that when I speak about the things of Heaven and truth, I have this tendency to be very blunt and straightforward about things. And I come to you now all with that same level of rawness, and I want you to be prepared with the knowledge that this lesson is as much for me as it is for you. So I hope you’ll forgive my bluntness, and also that maybe some of what I say resonates or connects with where you are in your own lives right now.

So, here’s the thing: I am sick of headlines. I really am. The news inundates us with one tragedy after another, and it feels like we’re living in a time where we are being called to care about EVERYTHING and it is exhausting. I feel like my energy is being drained, constantly, because I find myself worrying about so many different things at once.

I’m worried about the future, and what it will bring.

I have always been a big-picture planner. I can see big visions clearly -- I have always been able to see the end result or the goal. But I often get bogged down with the details and the slowness of progress. Do you know what I mean? I see a better life or a better version of myself, and when there are roadblocks that prevent me from reaching that goal, I so easily get distracted and burnt out.

This year has felt like one long night, and I’m waiting for the day, but starting to lose hope. I feel like it’s important for me to confess to you this sense of hopelessness so you know you're not alone if you've been feeling this way, too.

During this time, I've found myself demanding answers from God. "Where are you during all of this? What am I supposed to do with my life, right now?"

And the Spirit whispers in response, “Have you tried turning your life on and off?”

For those of you who don’t know, this is a trick that most IT or tech savvy people will tell you if you’re having any kind of technological difficulty. “Have you tried turning the computer on and off again? Have you tried resetting it?” Typically, and I don’t know what kind of sorcery it is, but typically, simply resetting our devices tends to lead to them working again.

That God responded to me in such a way felt a little hurtful, I’ll admit. What does that mean, God? What are you playing at? And then, I'm reminded of this passage from Acts:

Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away. Then times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord, and he will again send you Jesus, your appointed Messiah. For he must remain in heaven until the time for the final restoration of all things, as God promised long ago through his holy prophets (3:19-20).

Y'all, I had a light bulb moment.

I did need to reset myself. In fact, I needed to do three things to get my thoughts back on track and to reorient my heart towards Heaven and towards hope, and towards the end goal.

I had to reset, I had to allow myself to be restored, and I had to run towards Jesus instead of wallowing in self pity. I’m going to share in further detail what all this means, obviously, but I want you to know that this is still a journey for me, and I’m right there with you through this process of unplugging and fixing my eyes on Jesus, constantly.

So let’s come, broken and humble, together and unite in this moment of recognizing that it’s time for a hard reset in our lives.

Reset → What does turning our lives on and off look like?

1. Repent of sins. This is such an important aspect of our faith, though, and one that is necessary to refocusing and resetting our hearts and lives. We have to do a survey, an assessment, on who we are. Where are we hurting? What’s keeping us back from being who God designed us to be? When I say “sin” where does your mind automatically go? In order to be reset, we must first come to Jesus and repent.

2. Get back to your roots. How are you, doing really? What’s making you happy? Where do you feel most yourself? How long has it been, really, since you recognized the face in the mirror? We must come back to the roots of who we are. The beauty of our Father is in His creativity. He has handmade us each uniquely. We all have dreams and desires and joys and interests, and things that make us uniquely ourselves. What delights you? Your passions are your calling. So what are your roots? Who are you? You must find a way back to your truest self, but it will be impossible if you’re not doing this with Jesus. We repent and then invite Jesus to go with us in search of ourselves, and Jesus is there encouraging us through it all.

Restore → to bring back; reinstate.

1. When we talk about allowing ourselves to be restored, we have to realize that you can’t be restored without a reset. Restoration is the homecoming. It’s coming back to Jesus with a whole heart, it’s coming back to ourselves. And the beautiful thing about restoration, is that in this context it’s also synonymous with refreshment. Look at verse 20 -- when we reset, we are refreshed.

   1. Refresh: "to give new energy or strength to; reinvigorate." We can only be refreshed in the presence of Jesus. When Jesus is resetting our lives and helping us reconnect with who we are meant to be, we must ask the question of how do we purge the world from within us? Because we are all filled with parts of the world, aren’t we? Your heart can’t be full of Jesus and also full of hatred towards a group or person. The world will tell us that it’s possible, but Jesus tells us that it isn’t. The world clings to our souls and tells us that hatred, division, and differences are all worthy of our derision. We build walls that separate us from those who think differently from us. We draw lines in the sand. It’s us vs. them.

2. Restoration and refreshment happen when we stop trying to compete with others and ourselves, and allow Jesus to heal and move. We come to the Cross with a clearer sense of identity and purpose, and Jesus gives us a drink of that cool everlasting water that quenches the deserts inside of us.

Run → After the One who Keeps it all Together

So what do we do after we’ve reset our lives, allowed ourselves to be refreshed? You keep RUNNING, Church, after the one who keeps it all together.

1. Jesus is ready to meet us again, and be with us in the physical sense. Jesus is in Heaven, raring to go. He’s ready. But until God gives him the OK, it’s us who has to run after Him.

2. Jesus is hungry to restore the world permanently; until that can happen, we are called to restore what we can and pursue Jesus without ceasing. Resetting your life and allowing your heart to be restored doesn’t have to be a one-time thing -- it can be a continual renewal! Run, brothers. Run sisters. Chase Jesus down. Look so much like Him that people see you and think it’s him. Don’t give up when times are hard. Times will always be hard in some way. But Jesus is there, always, with arms wide pouring love over us like a warm yellow light.