My laptop has been trying to update for weeks now. Every morning, there is a notification that the update failed. I guess there are conditions I haven’t met yet to allow it to do so. It has to be plugged into AC power in order to update. Automatic updates have to be turned on. And now it tells me it can’t update because it needs more room. My hard drive is too full. I didn’t request an update; it just started trying all on its own. I’m not sure how I feel about this self-imposed update.
In the past, when a device was upgraded, the new interface looked different. Things are not always where I left them. Other things stop working. It can be a frustrating experience. So I put off updating as long as I can.
Eventually, I give in and update my technology. I believe what the maker has done is for the best. I trust the company. I enjoy the new bells and whistles once I learn how to use them.
God is in the updating business, too. His original creation is flawed, not by any fault of His own, He made it perfect. But it has become flawed because of sin. Our operating system is broken. It doesn’t work as intended by the Creator. Spirit 1.0 has degraded over time into Flesh 2.0. Man’s internal hard drive is full of worldly, carnal desires and acts of the flesh. The Bible says it this way: “For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.” Galatians 5:17
God has made a patch. He has provided a means of upgrading us into the people He originally intended us to be. However, first we must trust the maker and believe that the update is for our best. That’s the difficult part. But once we allow it to happen, our new life is like nothing we’ve ever known!
God does not merely patch a bug or rearrange a few settings. He makes us new from the inside out. When we plug our lives into His power, clear space through repentance, and trust the work of His Spirit, He installs a new heart, new desires, and a new way of living. The update may feel unfamiliar at first, and some old habits will no longer run the way they used to, but this renewal is exactly what we were designed for. What the Creator does is always for our good. And once we learn to live in step with the Spirit, we discover that life in Christ is not a downgrade or an inconvenience, but a beautiful restoration to who we were always meant to be