Due to flight schedule disruptions, I traveled four days to arrive on a tropical island swept hard by a typhoon. I was there to operate equipment that processes sea water into drinking water. But I confess, my primary purpose was to offer what Jesus called “living water” (John 4:10).
That opportunity arose when a young man approached my team expressing gratitude. “How are you holding up?” I asked. “I feel like this has been a big reset for the entire island,” he said. “We need to relearn how to think of each other’s needs and live together in community.” He continued unpacking his thoughts, using the word “reset” several times. I asked, “Have you ever had a spiritual reset, and can I explain that to you?”
The human mind, i.e. consciousness and self-awareness, is remarkable in its ability to rethink or reset. Your mind can instruct your brain to avoid temptations or reconsider conclusions. The interaction between the brain and mind is mysterious, impacted by changes in your circumstances (like a typhoon). But it is within that interaction that God communicates in ways subtle and at times, loud. “God whispers to us in our pleasures,” but painful events are “His megaphone to rouse a deaf world,” per C.S. Lewis.
The Bible’s anthropology recognizes the benefit of a discontinuity of thought, a reset you might say. “Our inner man is being renewed day by day” (2 Cor. 4:16). In Christ, a believer is “being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him” (Col. 3:10). The clearest example is, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is” (Rom. 12:2). The Bible warns of the pitfalls and disordered thinking of this materialistic world and the fallen human condition. But you are not without hope! By faith, you cooperate as your thoughts bend Godward.
My new friend said, “Yes!” I shared with him, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Cor. 5:17). That is the great reset of the soul. It is an invitation to come alive to God. I explained that God loves you so much that He stepped into humanity to die on the cross to satisfy your sin debt. It is a gift of mercy and grace received through faith in Jesus. It results in a fresh start and new thoughts about life.
After listening, he grasped my hand. “Would you help me pray so I can receive Christ?” I did, but only he and God know if Jesus is truly the Shepherd and Guardian of his soul. I pray he found his great reset.