Better out than in, right?

So last week I was on another flight and I puked my guts up in the middle of the aisle on the plane. 10 minutes before I was fine then my stomach started to feel funny on my way to the toilet I just couldn't hold it in. I was so embarrassed! As the flight attendant handed me piles of paper towel to clean my hands and face all I could do was repetitively apologize. She was so lovely, helped cleaned me up, picked vomit out of my hair. As I looked around waiting to go into the occupied toilet, no one around would make eye contact. They all were looking down and covering their noses with their hands from the smell of vomit.

When I got back to my seat, I had a revelation from my traumatizing ordeal.

When "unbelievers" come into a church there is a natural tendency for them to feel embarrassed as the Holy Spirit convicts them. The enemy will try and make them focus on their sin and how horrible it is. Just like me with my handful of vomit. I just kept looking at the mess I'd made all over the floor. We as Christians in church have two options. We can be like the other passengers and join in with the enemy's focus on the stench of sin. Turn our eyes away from them and try to "protect" ourselves from the sin. Or we can be like the hostess and come to their rescue. No one likes picking vomit out of someone's hair but her actions reflected her reassurance that it was all ok. She warmly looked passed the smelly mess and saw a sick and helpless girl.

When I got into the bathroom the sight of myself was horrific and that's being kind. ☺ The revelation of how bad it was hit me. I had vomit not only in my hair but in my eyebrows, on my shoes, in my rings, on the bracelets I was wearing, it was everywhere. Not my most attractive moment in life.
After I had washed myself up I came out and the hostess had totally cleaned up all the mess, nobody was covering their noses anymore and I felt so much better.

That's what salvation is like. Once you've got it, the mess and troubles seem to sort themselves out. 

All of us, not just new believers, have to deal with our sin.

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (Romans 3:23 NIV)

Next time you see someone who seems a bit messed up or you begin judging a saint for stumbling. Remember to see beyond the mess and look at the person. It has never been our job to convict people, that is the holy spirit's job. All we need to do is bring them to a place where they can encounter God. Let's be people who create an environment that encourages those that have something festering inside of them to get it out! We can't make them feel better but once they've got it out, we can come in and help clean up the mess.