There was a news article that caught my attention this past week on the BBC website. It tells the story of a man who has suffered headaches and blocked noses for over 40 years of his life (he is 51). Until recently he thought this was just hay fever, but after a massive sneezing fit he sneezed out a rubber sucker from a toy dart and his nose was no longer blocked!
His mother explained that when he was about around 8 years of age she took him to hospital suspecting her son had swallowed the piece from the dart. However, X-rays showed up nothing and after being checked up no one could find anything. She said she worried about it for some time and wondered if he swallowed it. But she was very glad it was finally out!
Wow! Imagine living like that for 40 years not knowing about the obstacle that causing the discomfort and irritation when all of sudden out it comes! And the discomfort and irritation goes.
This story directed my thinking to the fact that all of us we are in the process of becoming. As Christians there is a desire to grow in holiness, Christlikeness and sometimes the things that prevent that from happening are clear and we can work to deal with them and get rid of them; but sometimes it’s not so clear. We need something more to reveal those things so that we can work to eradicate them. We need God through the power of the Holy Spirit to challenge us and reveal to us those things.
When God reveals those undesirable things to us he also offers us the ‘big sneeze’ moment where we can be free from that way of living and instead live life in his fullness.
It reminded me of a hymn that we used to sing at school:
Search me, O God, and know my heart today,
Try me, O Saviour, know my thoughts, I pray;
See if there be some wicked way in me;
Cleanse me from every sin, and set me free.
May this be the prayer and desire of each of us.
God bless you!
Captain Clare