Pushing the Start Button

 Last night we had a mix of leftovers and freshly cooked vegetables.  It was a good meal.  Our microwave is above our stove.  I stuck some of the leftovers into the microwave to heat them.  Then I set the timer and went back to stirring what I was cooking on the stove. 

It was funny because after a minute or two, I realized I hadn’t heard the beeper go off signaling the time was up for the food in the microwave.  “Well, what is going on here?” I said to myself.  As soon as I looked up, I figured out what the problem. 

“You have to push the start button, Robin.”  Yes, I was talking to myself again.  I’m pretty sure I am not the only one who does that. 

A microwave will not do its job until someone pushes “start.”  I used to wish my kids had start buttons.  Ha! – I needed a start button for myself occasionally.  Sometimes I feel like my ‘get up and go’ – ‘got up and went.’  It is a good thing God allows us a new opportunity every day to do better than we did the day before.  I think that is what Christianity is all about - having the desire to build and grow on the good every day and leaving the mistakes in the past.

We can’t let our past haunt us or make us feel unworthy to serve Jesus.  Do you remember when Christ healed the paralytic who was dropped through the ceiling in front of Him?  The first thing He told was that his sins had been forgiven him.  The Jews balked at that.  No one had the authority to forgive sins.  Only God can do that.  But Jesus was God in the flesh, and He could do that.  So to prove it to those who doubted Him, to told the man to ““Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” (Matthew 9:6b)

Wouldn’t we have loved to see that happen?  It must have been a wonderful sight.  See Jesus gave the man a start button – but it wasn’t when He told him to get up and walk.  It was before that.  The paralytic’s real start button was when Jesus told him his sins were forgiven. That was when the true rejoicing should have begun. 

When we hear and believe the gospel – and understand Jesus died for our sins – when we faithfully follow His commandments and are baptized for the remission of sins – in a sense, that is when we push start.  It is when we begin a life of love and service to Him. 

Jesus gives a fresh start.  He died so we could live.  “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”  2 Corinthians 5:17.

Each day brings new opportunities.  Let’s choose to push the start button every morning and live for our Lord and Savior every day! 

Christ above all things -- Robin