I was ushered into an incredibly bright room and removed my clothing … well most of it. The fact that the doctor that I had only just met was very good at creating friendly conversation didn’t make it feel any less awkward.
I lay on the examination table while he used even brighter lights to examine every millimetre of my skin. In his hand was a camera that he would hold above any spots or marks that he wanted to see more clearly. Those tiny spots would then be greatly magnified and displayed in living colour across his supersized flat screen TV.
Approximately, two in three Australians will be diagnosed with skin cancer by the time they are 70, with more than 750,000 people treated for one or more non-melanoma skin cancers in Australia each year. Non-melanoma skin cancer is more common in men, with almost double the incidence compared to women. – Cancer Council
After asking me about a small, scaly piece of skin on my left forearm, the doctor grabbed his liquid nitrogen to freeze and destroy a small keratosis. It was harmless but left too long it could have developed into something very serious.
Apart from that one small issue I was given the all clear.
What a sense of relief.
Until that point I had no idea if I had anything lurking on my skin that could do me immense harm or even take my life, yet still I had never taken the time to get a skin cancer check. I always knew that I should but just didn’t.
I must admit that the weirdness of stripping down and having someone getting that close and personal was a bit of a demotivater. Even the thought that there could have been something, that left unattended, could kill me, failed to fully motivate me to get checked out. I didn’t want my body to be put under the bright, unflattering lights of the skin clinic.
It probably won’t surprise you that it was actually my wife who made the appointment for me. Of course she asked if that was OK but it was her initiative.
So here I am, a 53 year old Australian male who spends a fair bit of time cycling around with exposed skin, avoiding the opportunity to have someone examine me thoroughly. Talk about ridiculous. While I was busy avoiding my own embarrassment, there could have been something silently killing me.
I think many of us live our lives like that. We avoid the kind of examination that could save our lives.
There are often actions, thoughts and habits in our lives that we try to ignore because we don’t want to have to deal with what might really be happening. We don’t want to be put under the light even though that kind of examination could save our lives.
For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. – John 3:20
I had a keratosis that could have developed into something worse but by being put under the harsh white light of the examination room, it’s now dealt with and I can get on with life. Am I prepared to put the rest of my life under that kind of scrutiny, knowing that I’ll be able to have someone deal with whatever they find or will I stubbornly continue with that constant, low-level sense that things are not quite right.
If skin cancer is left untreated too long, you’ll eventually know it’s there … and not in a good way. If those areas of our lives that don’t measure up are left without examination, they’ll eventually come to light … and certainly not in a good way.
For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light. – Luke 8:17
The true story of Easter is that God not only wants to examine our lives but to deal with those issues that can bring our destruction. He has offered a way to be rid of whatever entangles us through the life, death and resurrection of His son Jesus.
Easter tells us that our past doesn’t have to determine our future.
What the Bible calls sin, our desire to live contrary to God’s direction for our lives, has consequences.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 6:23
The free gift we are offered from God means that whatever our past holds, it can be dealt with completely through the death and resurrection of Jesus. And Easter isn’t just about cancelling the debt of sin, it’s about restoring relationship with the one who created the universe. Rather than seeing God as an old man waving his finger at us in disapproval, we get to know God as a friend through Jesus Christ.
That’s why we celebrate Easter. The debt that we’ve incurred can be completely cancelled. Our past can be over, our future can be secure and we can be directly connected to the one who would hold nothing back for us, not even His own son.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. – John 3:16
After my initial misgivings, I felt secure letting a doctor shine a light on anything that needed to be treated because I know that he wants to deal with things that could cause me a great deal of harm.
This Easter, maybe it’s time to let God shine a light into your life, knowing that He wants to lovingly and completely deal with things that can cause us ultimate harm.
My prayer is that this will be an Easter that you can truly celebrate.
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