Loose Tooth

My daughter Zoe freaked out a little bit last night while brushing her teeth before bed. One of her lower front teeth was about to come out, and she must have jarred it while brushing.

She came running to me holding her mouth in an odd manner, tears filling and spilling out of her wide, fearful eyes. She was crying hysterically.

So I tried to comfort her, told her that she had better get mommy, and went to get my needle nose pliers. We got her to lay down on the bed and tried to get her to calm down. She refused to let me get the tooth, though. She was too scared.

I was rather frustrated at the situation. When dads (and probably men in general) hear crying females, we translate that as “you should be fixing this.” So I got my tools. This was not quite what she had in mind.

Reflecting on this situation reminded me of a sermon I heard at one time. (I wish I could remember who it was I was listening to or reading, but the author of this illustration eludes me.) Let's compare our lives to a house. When we need something fixed, we often call on Jesus to fix the problem. Usually, we try to fix it ourselves, but when the problem is severe, we cry out to Jesus. However, once the crisis is over, we show Jesus the door. The cool thing about Jesus, though, is that He came to stay. He's moving from room to room and fixing other problems. Next thing you know, He starts knocking down walls, moving things around, and generally making a mess of your house. We aren't always happy with this.

“Wait!” we say. “I like this room! I'm comfortable in here! What are You doing?”

Jesus responds, “I'm making this place better. You invited me into you life because it was a mess, but I'm going to give you complete joy. In order to do this, we've gotta knock some of this stuff down. I'm going to make this place into a wonderful house where we can live together forever...a mansion! Just try to look past the mess into what we are trying to accomplish. Every remodel starts with demolition.”

Aren't we all in the middle of a remodel? I wonder if we recognize our problems for what they are. 1 Pet. 1:6-9 says: “So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.” NLT

So when you run to your heavenly Father with a loose tooth, let Him pull it out! You love Him, don't you? Then trust Him! Cooperate with your sanctification! “There is wonderful joy ahead” if you do!

Pastor Brian Cox