Wednesday, November 13, 2013

I took one of my children to the orthodontist this morning for a consult. While I was there I talked to the Dr. about my own concerns for my teeth.

I have a very severe overbite. None of my teeth touch except the very back molars, which is great for wear but terrible on everything else. I've been told my numerous orthodontist, oral surgeons and dentists that surgery is required to fix it. Literally going in and breaking my jaw to reset. No thank you! I'll live with it!

So, I was extremely surprised when the Dr. told me it would be a very easy fix, that my tongue is the problem. What?! So, braces and a little appliances attached to my the back of my upper top teeth to keep my tongue from getting in the way of the teeth placement are all it takes. He said there are ways to retrain the tongue but this type of therapy is long and not very successful.

Who knew the tongue is so powerful? James recognized this.

"So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life and set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, by no human being can tame the tongue. It is restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing.
James 3:5-10

The taming of the tongue is very difficult and can take months and years. Wouldn't it be great if the appliance that attaches to the back of the teeth to retrain the tongue would also retrain the words we speak?

Life and death are literally in the power of the tongue.  Retraining the tongue is very difficult, even with the Holy Spirit present. We slip up, shame, discount, demand, control, build up, encourage, edify, ask for help from the same tongue.

The tongue is extremely powerful. Something we don't think about very often until it causes us to tear down someone we love. Then we can see the damage that the tongue can cause.

An overbite is a physical abnormality but until today I didn't know that the tongue was the problem.

How many of us live years and don't realize our tongue is the problem with our relationships?


Monday, November 4, 2013

Past Places

We've all heard the saying, "Don't make the same mistakes."

Why is this important and what happens when we do? How do we keep from it?

If our God is a forgiving God then it should be fine if we keep on making the same mistakes, right? He will forgive us, right? Yes, it is true that He always forgives but at some point our mistakes will be made public. He always forgives but he cares more for our holiness than our happiness. When we do things that don't please or glorify Him eventually these will come forward.

There is always an emptiness and void when we are doing things that don't please Him.

The definition of repent is to change one's mind. This is not just a one time thing. This is an ongoing process. There's also nothing about guilt involved. This is a happy thing. To change our minds to align with God's is joyeous repenting. Satan would like for us to feel so guilty and to hide from God. He enjoys the fact that we feel so guilty that God would never accept us in the nastiness of what we have done.

Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Jesus shows us again and again, there is nothing He can't forgive. The Samaritan woman at the well who has been married five times and now living with a man, the prostitute that anoints his feet with perfume, the tax collectors, the sick, the mentally unstable, the demon-possessed. All these he loves.

There is nothing too nasty for Him. Nothing.

Time and again when we fall, he picks us up. Eventually, though, to turn us back to Him completely He may make our fallings known. This is not to humiliate us, though. This is so we will not hide away in our darkness, this is so others who care for us so deeply will come and walk beside us, this is so we can call out to Him in our shame and recognize the only Source that can truly pull us out of the pit.

Our God is not a god of guilt, He is a God of Grace, Peace, and Understanding.