Changing Your Default Setting, Part 1

Genesis 1:26a Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness….”

Romans 3:23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

We all know what default settings are on a computer. They’re the controls of hardware or software that are preset by the manufacturer. Incorrect default settings can result in strange-looking documents, messed-up applications, and bogged-down computers. Did you ever unthinkingly hit “yes” when the computer asked you something, and you realized you’d made a mistake? The result can be chaos, and sometimes our efforts to get things back to normal can be disastrous.

We have personal default settings as well. We’ve all come to conclusions and positions in our minds and hearts that bring us to a spiritual, mental and emotional “default setting” that we go back to when circumstances arise around us. Our default setting we have about an issue includes the position from which we operate, the mindset that organizes our thinking, and the context that we provide ourselves for dealing with problems and challenges.

Those are determined by two realities: We are made in His image, and yet we’ve also been infected by sin. Spiritually, we’ve all benefited from and struggled with some of our default positions. Some are great: Jesus is Lord, He is trustworthy, He works everything together for good. These are healthy and righteous “go back to” positions that bring blessing to us, God and others.

But then there are others that hurt us, God and others. Where we’ve sinned, where we’ve been wounded, where we live in error because of any circumstance—these can all create default settings that make us react wrongly, hear others incorrectly, and come to crazy conclusions. And when we act on those crazy conclusions, we can get in a world of hurt.

The good news is that, like computers, our default settings can be changed by the blood of the Lamb and our choices. We’ll talk about some of them in the next few days. For today, let’s realize that many of our “natural reactions” are based in wounds that God wants to heal, and in wrong thinking He’s working to correct.

Prayer: Lord, thank You that in spite of my own sin and the work of the enemy in my life, I am still created in Your image. Thank You that You know how to heal me and correct my thinking, and that You’re always working to transform me into the image of Christ. (II Corinthians 3:18)