THE DEFAULT SETTING

(Gen. 1:26-28, Genesis 2:19-20; Genesis 2:16-17, Genesis 3:6-7)

2 Cor. 5:17-19, So many times we find ourselves struggling to grow in one area or the other, mostly in our spiritual life. We find it difficult to meet up to or maintain the standards that have been set by God spiritually.

The above topic is basically about us going back
to our DEFAULT SETTING, the original way we were created. (You will get to understand better as you read on). Often times you go to the exam hall and you are so scared because you may not have prepared well enough, you get scared you won’t meet up with the marking scheme. So also there are times when we get scared of falling into sin; we struggle to come out from lying, fornication, stealing, and other forms of immorality.

Most times, Christians especially, have made it a point of duty to always be SIN conscious. Today, we put in so much effort to meet up the "Standard" of the world for obvious reasons like, feeling among and not being left out or ridiculed, etc.

Well I have been made to understand that one reason why this has become the fate of so many is because we have left our DEFAULT SETTING and decided to go for the ALTERNATIVE SETTING. You may be wondering what I mean by that.

Now, before the fall of man, man was operating at 100% full capacity, (Gen 1:26-28). Man was God’s standard made flesh. He needed not to be modified in anyway because He was PERFECT as a PRODUCT of PERFECTION! (Gen 2:19-20). Man was MADE. He had no other alternative to Himself. Man was the marking scheme for perfection.

Originally, we were not meant to struggle with anything in life (not even when it comes to living a Holy and Righteous life), because we were the standard for living right, having been made in GOD'S IMAGE AND LIKENESS!

After the FALL, man started operating on the Alternative setting. He was no longer 100%. It was from this point that man began to struggle to meet up with the standard. It was as a result of this that Christians and humans in general now had to do so much to meet up with the standard, (Holiness and Righteousness). That is why we are now scared of falling into sin and doing things that will make people say we are not Christians. It was not meant to be like that from the beginning. God is a perfect God! (Matt. 5:48)

Then, we were MADE without blemish. There was nothing like I sinned or I don't believe. There was this AUTOMATIC SETTING WE HAD, IT HAD ALWAYS BEEN THERE; THAT GOD IMPLANTED POWER AND NATURE THAT MADE US SO SPECIAL, ‘THE GOD NATURE’.

But as a result of sin, we began to operate with the Alternative Setting that is far below the standard of God. It’s just like your brand new android phone, the memory card comes with some installations or settings that may suit you or not but cannot be removed else the phone will malfunction and you begin to think that the phone is bad and unless you reset the phone to default, you will keep having issues with the phone, the same thing is applicable to us as humans, we cannot reset ourselves by ourselves,but there is good news, we can be restored to default; the original way God made us! HOW?

Operating with the alternative setting requires us to do more than we were created to do, so much that we can never be restored to default even when we are tired of it. But except we accept the package that has the ability to restore us to the original state that we were made to operate in we will never be restored. Except we receive Jesus Christ and believe in his death for us on the cross, we will continue to struggle, (John 3:16). And in BELIEVING, we are being restored to the Original setting (2 Cor. 5:17).

Now it seems so difficult and impossible to just return and stay there, but we were made to understand that "THE RIGHTEOUS SHALL FALL SEVEN TIMES, BUT SHALL RISE AGAIN” (Prov. 24:16)

God knew that at some point the thought of falling back to the alternative setting would come, that we may want to go back because of what we experience in our daily living, that we may want to work to attain some things forgetting we have been RESTORED to our default setting, so He made available to us GRACE and the HOLY SPIRIT, (Acts 2, 2nd Cor. 12:9a).

Now you have to be filled with the information that makes up the original/default setting, (2 Cor. 3:5). First and most important is our best friend the HOLY SPIRIT; He nurtures us and guides us and with Him comes the full package, (Isaiah 11:2). From here we start operating in new dimensions and doing great things like we were meant to be doing, (Acts 2:8).

The major thing here is this: ‘For us to operate in the fullness of GOD, we have to return to the Original. For all the resolutions we have made to be achieved without struggle, we have to return. For us to live Holy and Righteous, we have to return. To avoid falling and rising in the Faith, we have to return.’ Now it’s up to you to ask yourself if you are operating in your original state. If you are not, then quickly make a step (John 3:16)...and that's all it takes! And always remember, KTF!

By Deborah Tryon