Space-Age Toothbrush
Things of this world and our old ways may cause us to lose the benefit of God’s promises and presence in our lives.
Are you like me? What do you mean, you might ask? Well, a little over a year ago, my wonderful wife bought me an electric toothbrush—one of those fancy, space-technology pieces of equipment with a battery, charger, and changeable brush heads. From the packaging, you would have thought we had just acquired a first-article SpaceX Falcon rocket replica. It was impressive.
Now, these space-age technology toothbrushes are equipped with oscillating heads that pulsate billions of times per second. This action is enough to wear any plaque you have accumulated on your teeth right off. It is kind of like pressure washing a moss-covered set of stairs. The stuff blows right off, disintegrating into a million little crystal-size fragments, mixing with the fluoride toothpaste and saliva to run straight out of your mouth and down your chin and onto your newly pressed business shirt! Well, that’s what generally happens to me. But I digress.
The technology built into these toothbrushes makes it so the user simply has to place the brush head over a tooth and let it run. The oscillating action of the brush cleans the tooth. No more moving your hand back and forth and up and down to get that tooth clean. Just put the brush in your mouth, turn it on, and presto chango your teeth are clean! Isn’t technology marvelous?
But this brings us back to my question: are you like me? You see, no matter how advanced the technology of the fabulous toothbrush my fabulous wife bought me, I still move that puppy around - up and down and back and forth - to get my teeth clean. That brush head is going at 100 miles per second, and there I am just brushing like I have a 1980s REACH toothbrush in my mouth. I can’t seem to give up my old ways and accept the benefits granted by space-age toothbrushes.
Do you do that too? Because the Holy Spirit has something to say about it. I don’t believe the propensity to rely on my way of doing things is a sin - except when it causes me to disobey God. But that is not the subject the Spirit wants to point out in this article. He would prefer to relate my treatment of the electric toothbrush to how we treat God’s promises and the Spirit’s presence in our lives. So let’s look at some related scriptures:
Hebrews 13:5 - Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” That is a significant promise. The writer of Hebrews admonishes us to keep our lives free! Freedom is among the most valuable human conditions here in the world. The author tells us to be free and “content with what we have.” Why should this be our attitude? Because God is never, ever going to leave or forsake us. He will always be with us. No matter the money in the bank or the possessions at home, God is with us - Always! But how often do I override this promise by trying to control both my bank account and how many possessions I have? I am NOT advocating reckless financial living. The prodigal son taught us what happens with that type of living. However, when we do live responsibly and God has blessed us with provisions for today and many days to come, why would we forsake the freedom and contentment that comes from knowing God will never forsake us?
How about this simple and straightforward Biblical truth: “Your word is a lamp unto my feet and light unto my path.” King David of Israel wrote this in his 119th Psalm. What a succinct way of saying that the Word of God provides us with the understanding and direction needed for living here, walking out our life on earth. Yet, even though we understand this truth, how often do we neglect God’s Word? How many times do we choose to face life without considering what God has to say about it? He wrote it down! He put it in a book! We run from bookshelf to bookshelf seeking answers. All the while we have twenty editions of God's letter written to us providing answers for what we need to know about living in His will.
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world,” Jesus said this to His disciples just before He was arrested, falsely accused and sacrificed on the Cross. When He said it to the disciples, they did not know Jesus could raise Himself from death. So when the Messiah died, the disciples panicked even though He had told them about overcoming the world. But today, Christians, we have the account from the disciples. Jesus did rise from the dead. The tomb is empty! Why are we panicking? Why are we worried? Why don’t we have peace? Come on! Jesus defeated death, hell, and the grave. He overcame the world. Our Savior and Lord is now proclaimed by God Almighty to be King of kings and Lord of lords. He is above all and rules over all. But we are still worried about whether or not our child is going to be accepted into kindergarten at a particular school. We are still getting flustered about a button popping on our favorite dress. We are still upset when our favorite team makes a questionable draft pick. Is it that we don’t believe or is something else at play here? I honestly don’t know. I think Jesus must repeat over and over again, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Next time you are tempted to deliver the one-finger salute to the guy who cut you off in traffic remember, Jesus has overcome the world so that you may have peace.
These example scriptures could literally go on for days. If you have others, I encourage you to share in the comments below. I would like to see how others brush their teeth with space-age technology.
Brothers and sisters, let’s not foolishly allow ourselves, other people, or the devil and his minions to take away the promises God has made to us today and every day. Jesus told us that no one and nothing is able to take one of His children away from Him. Now, as children of God, let us endeavor to not allow God’s promises to be snatched away from us.