Moving from a simple flip phone to an iPhone was not easy for me.
My Motorola basically worked like my microwave: open door, push buttons.
The iPhone had a bizillion options and every time I turned around someone told me of a great new app that “I had to have”.
My salvation with the new phone Mark showing me that, when in doubt, push the little round button at the bottom.
“It’s called the home button and it will take you back to the start screen”, he noted.
So, no matter what kind of iPhone bind I found myself in – opening some page I’ve never seen before or mistakenly hitting the wrong link in a website – I could always hit that little round button and get back to square one.
Now my iPhone has lots of features – many of which I don’t even use.
One day, I managed to leave my finger on an icon too long. Wasai! All of the sudden, all my apps started to jiggle.
(This did not look good.)
I had two options:
1 Throw the phone down, my hands up, and never use it again.
2 Breathe and hit the home button.
Well, in a very simple way, this is our spiritual experience. And we always have two options:
1 Throw our hands up and allow distractions to fill our minds.
2 Breathe and hit the spiritual “home button”.
So what is this spiritual “home button?” It is His favor.
It’s located right in front of us at all times and never leaves our sight. His favor is always available for immediate access. And the best thing is the way favor resets our eyes back to Him.
Whenever we stumble in the weakness of our flesh (James 3:2), the spiritual home button is ready to remind us of who He knows us to be.
Unfortunately, too often we throw our hands up in despair:
“I’ll never get this right. My children are a rebellious. My marriage is a dreadful. My house is a mess. My job is a horrible. I’m hopeless!” And then we spin into a cycle of guilt and defeat.
But, what if we could remember often that we have a home button?
“The Word is near you, in your mouth and in heart” (Romans 10:8). And His Word (Christ) has God’s approval stamped directly upon Him (John 6:27). That means God’s approval is in you, too.
Returning to His favor is not some long, arduous journey. You already have it. Just receive what He has given.
Unfortunately, we often end up pressing all kinds of other apps rather than simply returning to His Holy Favor Button. My personal favorites are the “I’ll-try-really-hard” app, the “keep-myself-so-busy-I-don’t-have-to-think-about-it” app, or the “getting-others-to-feel-sorry-for-me-so-it-validates-the-way-I’m-acting” app.
Sound familiar?
Stop for a moment and just breathe in and out slowly. Then hit the “home button”, testifying to Him that you believe what He says about you.
Remember, you can only be as plugged in to Him as you are in this very moment.
Try this little exercise as you refresh. Look up the word “grace” in your concordance, then read each verse slowly – substituting the word’s “God’s own favor” in place of the word grace.
So what did you hear?