Dentists are usually very nice people. If we met our dentist in a store, we’d be happy to say “hello,” and we might also be happy that we weren’t in the dental chair in his office. It’s not the dentist that we don’t like; it’s what the dentist has to do to our teeth that makes us not like to be sitting in his chair. Checkups on our teeth are necessary, and how thankful we are if we get a good report that there are no cavities.
Our teeth are very important to good health. God gave teeth to us so we could chew our food properly, which is the first step in making food useful for our body’s needs. We can’t live without food, and so we need to keep our teeth in good working order.
Do you have a toothbrush? Most everybody has at least one. We use it to brush all the food particles off our teeth. Food left on our teeth can cause decay. That decay is called a cavity, and that’s when we have to make a trip to see the dentist. He will drill out the decay and replace it with a filling.
I’ll tell you about a trip I took to see my dentist because I was feeling pain in a lower molar. (A molar is one of the larger teeth in the back part of the mouth.) The dentist looked into my mouth and said he couldn’t see any problem, so he decided to take an X-ray. The X-ray showed what neither of us could see—that there was decay hiding underneath an old filling. The dentist gave me two choices: I could have him try to repair the tooth or I could have the tooth pulled.
This reminded me of what we read in the Bible about sin. Sins can’t always be seen, but we all have committed sins—many, many of them. God tells us the truth: “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:2323For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:23)). And God sees every one of our sins—those lies that we tell, the things we take that don’t belong to us, the bad words we say, and even when we’re mean to somebody on the playground. God can look right down into our hearts and see what’s hidden in them; He doesn’t need X-rays to see our sin problem.
The X-ray of my tooth showed it had a big problem, and now I had to make a choice to get it fixed. I decided to have the tooth pulled, but I had to make another appointment to have it done.
You and I each have an appointment that must be kept as a result of our sin: “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:2727And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: (Hebrews 9:27)). We are thankful that God has a cure for sin that is available to anyone who will believe God and accept the cure He has provided. The next verse tells us, “Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many” (Hebrews 9:2828So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. (Hebrews 9:28)). Are you trusting in the Saviour who shed His blood to wash your sins away?
After the tooth was pulled, I asked the dentist if I could have the tooth to take home. The dental assistant gave it to me in a plastic bag. I could see the decay that was under the old filling. Now that the tooth was no longer alive, the decayed part of it turned black over the next few days, and I was thankful it was no longer in my mouth. My tooth problem was solved.
If you have received the Lord Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, you have been cleansed from all your sins, and you have been given a new life. Are you thankful for this great salvation provided by God through the death of His dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ?
ML-10/21/2012