Resetting Your Faith

reset-button

The concept of reset is common these days. Every so often you need to reset your tablet or phone just to get it working right. This process is necessary because we are constantly downloading new files and applications, some of which carry associated downloads you never intended to receive! Before you know, your tablet is slow, inefficient and jammed.

I use a computer company periodically to reset my computer. The computer guy can come in remotely. It’s always amazing to me what he can discern. He picks up the typical malware, etc., but last time he informed me I should get a new modem for our internet – it’s slowing our service.

I am willing to spend money on electronic resets, but how willing am I to invest in resetting my life of faith?

Resetting for Optimal Performance

Hitting the reset button is necessary to get any system working optimally for the purpose for which it was created.  What about our lives? Like everyone, my life has a purpose, but sometimes I get so filled with unnecessary clutter that I lose sight of that purpose. We reset our devices all the time. What if you could reset your life?

Psalm 24 tells us that God is behind the creation of the whole world and everything in it. He is the cosmic purpose maker. The evidence is all around us. As you look at the breathtaking fall foliage you see the brush strokes of an invisible artist. Nature doesn’t have to be that beautiful but it is! It was created to inspire us.

Psalm 24 goes on to tell us that if you want to ascend to the mountain top – in other words, meet God, you need to have clean hands and a pure heart. God is desperate to meet us so that we can feel His love. The song “To make You Feel My Love” captures God’s heart perfectly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4k-W6cZ2CiY

But we can’t feel that love if our spiritual life isn’t functioning optimally. This is why we need to hit the reset button of our lives.

Signs of the Need for a Reset

It starts with taking care of your inner life. I heard an interesting interview the other day. A well-known therapist explained that all the couples he is currently counselling are struggling a great deal because of stress associated with the election. It doesn’t matter which side of the aisle they are on. He put it down to the fact that this election feels particularly negative and is generating cynicism and exposing some really destructive aspects of our culture. That spills over into everyone’s personal lives.

It made me think. Sometimes God works in mysterious ways! Perhaps, the exposure of toxic elements in society will cause us, Americans, to decide it’s about time we hit reset-1the societal reset button. We need to ask ourselves what has made America great in the past and think deeply about what we want it to look like going forward. Perhaps this is a blessing in disguise. It will take all of us to stand up for what we believe in rather than accept the media or other people’s definition of who we are.

Rev. Moon was very cognizant of the need to challenge ourselves and the larger system. He talked about the need for a revolution of heart. He constantly reminded people that we need to reset and return to our default “original” nature:

“A new revolution coming to America-not by fire, not by bullets, but by God’s truth kindling a revolution of men’s hearts. I have come here to ignite this spiritual revolution. I don’t need to demonstrate in front of the White House or in Lafayette Square. The answer does not lie there, but in the hearts of men, in the quiet revolution from selfishness to unselfishness.

Can you imagine how wonderful the ideal society will be? Individuals will belong to their families, the family will belong to the society, the society will belong to the nation, the nation will belong to the world, the world will belong to God, and God will belong to you. He who gives the most will know God most deeply.”

Politics matter but what matters most is who we are and even beyond that, to whom do we belong.

What kind of revolution do you want to see in your life?

At the very core of our inner life is our faith or ability to believe. We usually find it easier to put faith in things rather than God. The Bible and other sacred texts warn against worshiping idols and we assume that doesn’t apply to us because we don’t have a golden calf in our living room.

Nevertheless, we do put our faith in the ability of material things to bring us happiness, and politicians to usher in world peace! But when it comes to putting faith in God, we get all shy and protest any request to behave in a way that is “unscientific.” We are more comfortable putting our “faith” in things we think we can control, rather than God.

From a practical point of view, faith is at the heart of every relationship. We have to believe the other person loves us. We have to believe in our commitment to the person we love. God requires faith not because he wants adulation – he simply wants a relationship with us and faith is a necessary part of any relationship.

We sometimes wonder if God exists but if we went about our lives relating to God on a daily basis, talking to him and noticing the things he is doing in our lives, our faith would naturally grow!

Nick Hall challenges people to develop a living relationship with God. He said, “Saying yes to God means that whenever God calls you pick up. Whenever he whispers you lean-in; whenever he invites you into an adventure instead of glancing skeptically to Heaven, you wholeheartedly say yes.”

Faith isn’t a nebulous feeling that comes and goes but is something we are responsible to develop. It grows as a result of give-and-take. It’s not dependent on which church you go to or how much you donate. It’s about having the courage to be proactive and make a relationship with God.

Of course there are lots of excuses to go around. For example, you may feel like the church has hurt you in some way. Yesterday, my friend invited a bunch of girlfriends over for the evening. I haven’t laughed so much in a while! At one point the conversation got serious and we talked about our experiences with church. We realized that our involvement in any church has to be separate from our relationship with God. I saw this great quote online that puts it all in perspective:

“If being hurt by the church causes you to lose faith in God, then your faith was in people, not God.”

Saying yes when God gives you an opportunity.

We affirm our faith when we say yes to the experiences God puts in our lives. (play testimony)

The Narrow Pass to Reset a Life

In the speech Faith and Reality, Rev. Moon gives some words of encouragement on building a life of faith:

“The life of faith does not depend on the concrete, visible reality of this physical world, but has to do with the invisible God. We are living in a world of practical reality, so we have to deal with practical issues on this earth. However, the life of faith belongs to another realm, and we cannot apply the same standards or deal with the same issues…

All of the great men of the Bible started their life of faith centered not on themselves, but on God. They were guided by God, not by themselves. Also, we should know what kind of life they lived for God in their age. We find that they all had a conflict – their life of faith versus the life of reality. We find further that they were not of one will when they faced these conflicts, but that they solved the problem when they brought themselves to center on God, not on their own desires. And we know that because of this conflict between God’s side and the world’s side, these people endured persecution and suffering. That is why they are great people.

Always we find that their life in this world was lonely because they suffered so much and were rejected by the world. They usually had no one to convey their thoughts and feelings to; they could go only to God. And when we look at their lives in the world, their material lives, we find that they were so limited in their material life that they naturally turned their hearts and lives toward God. When we imagine the consciousness they must have had, we can see that the scope of their thinking was narrowed down so that they saw everything centered on God. That was their life. They had to live their lives centering on oneness with God.

hurt-by-churchIn every area – relationships with people, knowledge, material things – they plunged themselves into a relationship with God, because there was no one else to rely on except God. There was no way to have give-and-take horizontally, to seek an object of happiness in their surroundings, so they concentrated on finding their object partner in God – more seriously than they had sought an object in this world. Because the foundation for their faith was so narrow, they had to rely on heaven to get through such a narrow channel to God. And thus they opened new realms by embracing God with hope and the desire for a higher ideal.

So even when we reach this narrow pass, we will not feel defeated, because from that narrow point a new relationship between ourselves and God will open up. There we will find true happiness and greater contentment. For example, Saint Francis emphasized pure poverty, a nothingness in which he could find happiness, appreciation and satisfaction. From that point on, God could work with him and he could feel happy and joyful. Oneness with God could be created from that point.”

Rev Moon encourages us to engage with God. Include him in your everyday life. He goes on to say:

“When you walk along the street, why don’t you take God’s point of view? You have to notice the evil things you would want to change, and then the good things you will multiply for your nation and for mankind. When you look at things this way, through God’s eyes, you will be always growing When you look at the weakness of the political situation, when you look at the changing elements from God’s position, you should think, “I am going to reform this and that.” If nobody else does it, think in your own mind, “I will do it.” When you maintain this kind of disposition, automatically angels and saints will come to you and help you even if you never ask for help from God. Wherever you go, you do not have to worry. You are perfectly all right even in the most dangerous of situations. With this confidence you can overcome any difficulties. Then God will reveal to you in many ways what is going to take place in the world, through dreams or visions or inspiration. This will be very comforting to you in this world of change.”

This week make effort to relate to God in whatever you are doing and thinking. God is waiting for you!  

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  1. Reset - Begin Again From Your Original Nature - November 8, 2016

    […] This is the second part of a series; read part one here: Resetting Your Faith […]

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