Pulling Teeth

So I have to get a tooth pulled next week.

I’m not one who minds going to the dentist generally. (Shout out to all the great staff at Dr. Yang’s office!) I go regularly for the garden variety, run-of-the-mill, cleaning and polishing twice a year. And, for the most part, I have healthy teeth.

Yesterday was not such a visit.

You see, I have this problem tooth. Among all the other strong and cooperative teeth in my mouth, there is one troublemaker. It’s a molar on my lower right side where I’ve already had two root canals (yes, TWO!) and a couple of crowns. The most recent crown was put on just two months ago. Since it had been giving me a little discomfort for the past week or so, I decided to go in and be sure there wasn’t a real issue.

There is.

The crown is cracked and they have to pull the tooth. All the improvement we were hoping for came to naught. There’s bone loss, potential infection, and a slew of other disgusting nonsense going on in there. Ugh.

I’m not so upset about losing a tooth. It’s the process of replacing it that had me in tears as soon as I left the office. If it’s not replaced somehow, it will affect the surrounding teeth, my gums, the bones in my mouth, etc. But I just don’t want to do it.

This morning I started thinking that my tooth is like sin. (You knew this part was coming, right?)

Why would I resist removing something that is bad and is having a bad effect on an otherwise healthy existence? Sin. Bad teeth. Same thing.

Look at what Scripture says about the nature of sin in our lives:

“⁵Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. ⁶Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. ⁷You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. ⁸But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. ⁹Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices ¹⁰and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” (Colossians 3:5-10)

“²¹Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.” (James 1:21)

⁴³If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. ⁴⁵And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. ⁴⁷And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell…” (Mark 9:43-47)

Observation #1 – Sin must be removed. Jesus said it. Paul said it. Life experience proves it. If sin is not dealt with at the root, like a weed in a beautiful garden, there will be negative consequences. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But soon, and for the rest of your life. (Yes, I’m quoting Casablanca.) There is a very good reason that terms like “cut it off” and “get rid of” and “put to death” are used to refer to how we should treat the sin in our lives. We cannot manage behavior and merely do damage control, allowing just a little sin to remain. It must be eradicated. Anything less is disobedience to God’s commands for life.

Observation #2 –Sin must be replaced by holiness. This is the essence of the sanctification process. I listened to the trained professionals in the dentist’s office tell me why it was important to fill in the space that will be left from my tooth. I don’t want my other teeth to move. (Thanks for those braces, Mom and Dad.) I don’t want the tooth above the removed one to fall out because there’s nothing to bite against it. And it’s unsightly to have a hole in my smile. I can get a bridge that will cover my missing tooth as well as the one in front and the one behind as an option. This will require learning new technique for gently flossing around them as well as filing down the teeth that anchor the bridge. Now I’ve got three compromised teeth. It’s better than nothing, but the consequences still affect my other teeth.

The preferable (and more expensive) option is an implant. This is a surgically placed metal screw (or so it seemed to me) that goes in the bone to hold a permanent crown in place of the tooth I’m losing. It doesn’t affect my other teeth and it’s supposed to last the rest of my life. This option is the picture of sanctification I’m looking for. Yanking out the old, broken parts and replacing them with something permanent and solid. But it doesn’t happen overnight.

Observation #3 – Transformation is a process. All this dental work is going to take months because the doctors allow weeks in between the steps for healing. There’s something to that in our quest to remove sin from our lives as well. As dramatic and inspiring as tales of immediate deliverance from addiction are, they are not the experience for everyone. Many struggle for victory over areas of sin for years, begging God for radical transformation of their souls. And the process of submission demands that we continually turn over these areas, as well as new ones revealed by the Holy Spirit, for God’s surgical hand to heal. Giving up sin is hard. There’s something in it for me or I wouldn’t want to hang on to it, even though it’s killing me. This bitterness, this unforgiveness, this addiction. They are a part of me, albeit a destructive part. Each time I obey God and release part of the sin, He comes alongside me to heal and comfort. Breaking up with an abusive partner still hurts. God knows our struggle and walks with us in the process.

You may remember this story from the gospel of Matthew concerning the condition of a man who doesn’t deal with the sin in his life:

⁴³"When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. ⁴⁴Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.' When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. ⁴⁵Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation." (Matthew 12:43-45)

God’s plan for us is to remove the evil from our lives – big and little – so that He can replace the broken and inadequate parts with Himself. It’s a lifelong process and an adventure. But we’re not meant to do it alone. The community of believers is designed to support and pray for each other as we submit to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. And when it works we all have prettier smiles!

• Which part of the “spiritual dentistry process” resonates with you most? Are you feeling convicted to yank something out? Are there empty places that need to be filled with God? Have you been living with a temporary solution that God’s asking you to deal with once and for all?

• Do any of the actions and attitudes listed in the passage from Colossians sound too familiar? If there are areas here that you struggle with, what steps do you think God may be asking you to take right now?

• What practical things can you do to “humbly accept the word planted in you”, as mentioned in James?