Monday, 19 November 2012

Light Vs Darkness

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.  If we claim to have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.  But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify is from all unrighteousness   If we claim we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar and His word has no place in our lives.

1 John 1:5-10


When I studied to be a dental hygienist I would have to do initial client assessments.  This included taking blood pressure, heart rate, respiration per minute, asking if and what medications the client was currently on, past medical history and so on.  One question that I'd like to stop asking is 'do you brush your teeth, how often?'  9 out of 10 of my clients would tell me they do several times a week and some even daily.  But once I started the intra-oral exam it would tell me a completely different story.  I could tell by the amount of calculus built up, the swollen and bleeding gums etc that their answer was ... a lie.

I have no doubt that they wanted to be brushing often, even daily, but just hadn't gotten themselves into the routine of it.  Many of them were going to have to pay the price for it by having restorative dental work done.  Even after professional dental cleaning and polishing, the cavities were there to testify to their lack of teeth brushing and oral care.

Just as I had to tell my clients the straight truth about the state of their teeth, John is giving us the straight truth about our spiritual lives.  If we claim that we have never sinned we're just fooling ourselves.  Or worse still is that we make Him out to be a liar and and His word has no place in our lives.

To do a quick self exam spiritually, just ask yourself if you're meeting the 10 commandments (Deuteronomy 5).

Easier still, Jesus broke the 10 commandments down into 2 commandments: ...love the Lord your God with all your heart...soul...and mind, and the second...love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:30-31).

I recommend that you be honest with your dental hygienist about how often you brush and floss your teeth, we have ways of finding out the truth.  Also, be honest with yourself and God as to the state of your spiritual life.  God has His ways of finding out the truth.

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