I CAN STILL RECALL THE SMOG ALERTS of my childhood. It seemed as though there were at least 3-4 days each fall when a smog alert would be issued and thus school activities curtailed. I remember having our football practices cancelled, and our games postponed because the air was that toxic. UGH! I can even remember driving through Los Angeles in the middle of the afternoon with the car headlights on because the smog was hampering visibility. Double UGH! Breath in and your chest hurt. Fortunately, believe it or not, things are better. Not perfect, but better.
I can remember driving up to Big Bear Lake and breathing in that clean, crisp mountain air. I think we actually breathed double time, trying to get as much in us as possible and hoping to maybe clean out all the pollution that had filled the lining of lungs. Driving back down Rim-of-the-World highway was like dropping into a vat of gray soup. We would try to hold in that clean air, but you can only hold your breath for so long, and back in would rush that lethal concoction of particulate matter. UGH, again.
We all breathe, all the time. The alternative is not very good for you. But not only do we breathe in the air around us, but we also breathe the air of our culture. Our culture produces its own smog. I call it Selfish Materialistic Obsessive Greed. And like the smog of Southern California, it cannot be counteracted by a couple hours of “breathing clean.” To clean out the 168 hours of “breathing” we do in a week, it is going to take more than just an hour of clean breathing to undue the damage. It’s going to take the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit, the reading of God’s Word, prayer, and His empowering in our lives. It’s putting on our spiritual oxygen mask and breathing deep and long. Holding your breath in this world just won’t cut it, you’ve got to breathe the Spirit.
So, take a deep breath and let the cleansing begin.