Casandra Martin

My son had two teeth pulled today. Novocain, gauze packs, drooling, the whole nine yards. He was a good sport about the whole thing. Not his favorite way to spend part of Spring Break, but the dentist told him that it was necessary to get those teeth out. A little pain today might save years of problems later.

God used the time in the dentist’s office to remind me of an important lesson. Sometimes, the healthiest thing for us is to endure an extraction. It is necessary for things that are not good for us to be removed from our hearts. Pride, selfishness, bad habits, wrong motives, and misdirected thinking all need to be pried from our souls at the earliest possible moment. It may not seem like much, but pulling them today prevents them from grower stronger and deeper in us. A little discomfort today might save years of struggle with sin down the road.

Colossians 3:5-10 has a whole list of items that need to be extracted from our lives. God wants us to put to death (which is really what pulling teeth is all about) things like immorality, evil desires, greed, anger, filthy language, and lying. God wants to pull those things out of our lives, creating room for His image to take shape in our hearts.

My Jesus Resolution today is to settle into the Great Physician’s chair, and let Him extract whatever is getting in the way of my growth. I want to be spiritually healthy. I want to grow in just the way He wants me to grow. I want to make room for the image of Jesus to take full form in my life. Even if it means pulling a couple of teeth.