Amongst enjoying the sun, sand and surf at the beach and staying up late to catch fire flies, my two kiddos also went to the dentist this summer. It was their 1st visit (yeah, I know way late with the oldest, but hey, NO cavities!!!). At the end of our visit, the dentist did a wonderful job of instructing and encouraging me about the importance of me brushing and flossing the kids teeth. While she was talking I was nodding my head in agreement, but in my heart I was thinking, “Lady, are you kidding me. We are doing good to get in the recommended two brushings a day for the length of the Happy Birthday song.” As I was having this contradiction, it hit me that no matter what I sit here, in the dentist’s office, and say or agree to, it’s what I do when I leave here that matters. My actions will show what I really think and believe. She is my children’s dentist, if I don’t brush and floss their teeth, she will KNOW. Their teeth and dental hygiene will show it.
So, kinda like church right?
How many of us sit there on a Sunday morning and nod in agreement to what is said or sung, knowing all the while when we are back at work or back in the privacy of our homes, our hearts, habits and intentions will be far from that? And our lives show it! What we say means nothing if it is not lived out in what we do. We’re fooling no one on Sunday mornings, except maybe ourselves. God certainly isn’t fooled. The hardest part, neither are our friends, neighbors and co-workers who are far from Him.
And this is where the analogy ends, because in this case what is at stake is a lot greater than a nice smile. Let us not just nod our heads in agreement. Instead let’s go out and live changed lives to see lives changed.
James 1:22-25 “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Those who listen to the word but do not do what it says are like people who look at their faces in a mirror and, after looking at themselves, go away and immediately forget what they look like. But those who look intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continue in it—not forgetting what they have heard but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.”
As for the brushing and flossing, I don’t get it done twice a day everyday. But we have definitely been making improvements. And come our next check-up in December, we shall see if we’ve “been blessed in what we’ve done” and are still cavity free.
What about you? Is your life showing improvements, are you living a changed life and seeing lives around you changed? Are you being blessed in what you do?
