We’re recently started a new series called “reset”.  Last week, we talked about how Jesus makes it possible to reset all of life, giving us a fresh start in life that impacts every key area.  We’re going to look at many of these in depth, starting this week with how Jesus resets our goals.

When my wife and I were having our first baby, we were encouraged to write birth plan.  This is where you write down a plan for who’s in the room, and make choices about everything from epidurals to breastfeeding to how bright the lights should be.

I know someone who works closely with an OB, and she has some wild stories about how people let some of the small choices get in the way of the big picture.  In a perfect, routine childbirth, a parent’s ideal may be to have the lights just so, no pain with no drugs, and a favourite song playing at the exact moment the child is born.

But when things don’t go perfectly, there are some people who forget the point, or the goal.  They start to argue for their personal preferences, instead of arguing for a baby’s health.

When my wife and I were writing up a birth plan, we decided to stay goal focused.  The goal was to have a healthy child.  All our personal preferences, hopes and dreams for the birth experience were going to be expressed, but we’d drop them in an instant if things were going wrong.

That was a moment we reset our goals…to make sure they were focused on the right thing.  It’s not a bad thing in life to regularly reset our goals, and ensure we’re focused on the right ones.  Not just in childbirth.

We can get so bogged down in day to day tasks we forget the point in our careers.  Do we live to work, or work to live?

I heard a TED Talk (attached) that shared the job description of a hospital janitor.  It was what you’d expect – mop, clean, scrub, restock.  It had nothing at all to do with hospital patients and healthcare.  But some psychologists interviewed hospital janitors.  They met one who told them about how he stopped mopping the floor because a patient was walking slowly down the hall. Another told them how she ignored her supervisor and didn’t vacuum the visitor’s lounge because there were some family members who were there all day, every day.

In the drudgery of cleaning, these janitors remembered the real goal of the hospital, and perhaps even of their human race.  They reset their goals to be about more than cleaning, but about caring for others.

Question: When have you had to reset your goals?  Why did you do it?

Reminder: We are reading the Bible in sync as one community – so check out today’s reading here.

Reminder: The best way to grow spiritually this year is to join our Christianity 101 in the Cafe Course in Pickering starting this Wednesday,  January 22nd. Register for you and a friend today!

Read the Bible in Sync Today

Ryan Sim - January 29, 2014

Wednesday - Change It - Reset Time

Reset

We’re going to look at a second story from the Bible this week, this one about Jesus in Luke 9:57-60 57 As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” 59 He said to another man, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” 60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Just like yesterday’s story, this is a tough one to interpret, since we probably didn’t expect this kind of response from Jesus. It sounds to us like the man’s father just died, and Jesus says he can’t mourn. He comes across as cold and even cruel, but mostly because we lack cultural understanding. There are again two possibilities for why he responds this way: One option: The man’s father is actually dead, sometime in the recent past. He’s been put in a very hot middle eastern tomb. The son wants to wait up to a year, so he can go and place his father’s bones in a bone box, an ossuary, for secondary burial in a family tomb. This would have been a very important duty for a Jewish son, but Jesus says it’s not as important as God’s kingdom. Another option: This is a stall tactic. The man’s father is not dead. The son wants to wait until his father dies and leaves him the inheritance. He only wants to follow Jesus when there will be no financial risk. Following Jesus looks different today – it’s not as simple as joining his entourage on a dusty road. It changes us in many other ways, and we’re going to explore lots of those changes in the next few weeks. Either way, we’ll be tempted to delay. We’ll want to put off financial changes until we retire, service changes until we have more time, and so on. But Jesus’ response to this man should inform us that Jesus needs to be first in our daytimer. Question: What aspect of following Jesus are you tempted to put off? Remember to read the Bible in sync today!

From Series: "Reset"

When our computers get bogged down and unmanageable, we know to hit a reset button to simply start over. Wouldn't a reset button be great in life? We know it would be complicated, with all our responsibilities and routines to consider, but imagine the freedom and refreshment of a new start in life! What would you do differently? What would you pay more attention to, and what would you ignore? How would you avoid getting bogged down and broken again? The great news is, in coming to earth as Jesus Christ, God has begun to "reset" our universe, our world, and even us. We're invited to start over with him, in what he calls his kingdom. We're invited to start a new life with a clean slate. What gets wiped clean, and lived differently, when God resets our lives? We'll explore how God resets these key areas of our lives: Reset: Goals Reset: Time Reset: Money Reset: Work Reset: Body & Food Reset: Sex & Marriage Reset: Family Reset: Compassion Reset: Nature Reset: Society Reset: Death Join us for the next several weeks, and invite God to reset your life.

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