So Christmas is over and we are mostly all back to school and/or work. Hands up who is delighted about that! Hands up if you have the cold! If you could see me right now you would see that my hand is up 
Isn’t the cold just the most annoying thing? You don’t feel 100% but you are not actually sick enough to be off school. It is one of those things that you just have suffer on through, but it is there, tickling your nose and throat, making you cough and sneeze, pressing on your sinuses and giving you a sore head…. Blugh!
As I sit here and blow my nose every other sentence, it got me thinking about the new year and sin. Generally on the 1st January we make all sorts of resolutions and promises to ourselves: to be ready for school on time, to do homework when you get it rather than the night before it is due, to read your Bible everyday, to eat less junk food, to watch less TV…
By 3rd January, these resolutions are pretty much out the window. You see, sticking to these promises is too difficult for us on our own, because we are all sick!
We are all infected with sin. It is kinda like a cold, doesn’t stop us going to school, having friends, playing sports, but it just makes everything blugh! Sin stops us living the life that God intended us to live.
Now we are told that if you wash your hands after the toilet and before you eat, if you avoid being coughed over and get enough vitamin c, then you will not get the cold. We do the same spiritually: we try and read our Bible everyday, we pray to God when we are in trouble, we pray to God to thank Him for all the good things that happen, we avoid getting in trouble, we do not swear or get drunk or lie, so how come we are still infected with sin?
There is nothing we can do to get rid of sin by ourselves, in the same way that there is no known cure to the common cold. However, if we ask God for forgiveness, He will free us from the sins that tie us up.
Being a girl in Northern Ireland in 2012 is not an easy thing to be in many ways. There are so many things that tie us up and stop us from truly believing just how much God loves us, and block us from living the life that God intended:
“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10
We are going to be looking at issues like this at our Worship Event for all Seniors & Brigaders in GBNI this February. Ask your leaders about booking you tickets, all the details are below.
In the meantime, remember that God is the only cure for sin.
Sarah 
sniff sniff
