Friday, June 19, 2009

Abscesses of Sin

It's been too long since I've been on here. I apologize. I have been letting life get away with me.

I was speaking with a friend, W, recently and she was sharing with me that she was going in for dental surgery the next day to get rid of an abscess that she had been carrying around in her mouth since she was a young girl. When she was a child, she damaged a tooth and in the process of trying to repair it, unsuccessfully, and then doing a root canal and putting on a crown, they left a tiny piece of mercury in her gum. She has seen many dentists and complained many times of the continual mouth pain and it has remained hidden from sight. The Dentist who finally found the problem is apparently an expert in finding "hidden infections".

Mercury, as we now know, is a poison and is no longer used in filling cavities or dental repair work because of the long-term damage it causes. W has had health problems one on top of the other and worsening in recent years. Now it comes to light that this mercury could be the root of all those problems.

When the dentist went in to remove the abscess, he could not believe how large it was. It had even decayed some of her bone. Fortunately, the bone will grow back, but she will never get back the years of ill-health caused by this tiny piece of poison.

As we talked, it reminded me of how a tiny little sin, buried so deep that x-rays and even experts cannot find the problem, can ruin a life. It takes a special type of "doctor" to find and eliminate every sin in our lives, to restore our health to us. When we fail to remove every last remnant of sin, we continue to poison ourselves and keep us from true spiritual health.

It makes me ask the question "where have I failed to remove every trace of a sin?" For me personally, at least at this moment, it is in TV. God has asked me to stop watching it and for a while I did, but then I started with a harmless, entertaining movie, which lead to an evening where I was exhausted but instead of going to bed I turned on the TV, which lead to more evenings in front of the TV. I have decided to recommit to turning it off. To leaving it off. TV is a useful tool in the right circumstances, but for me, it is mercury left in my mouth for too many years.

I ask God to reveal to me any areas where I might have left a tiny bit of poison in my system and to take it out, clean out the abscess and heal me. How about you?

God bless you tonight!!

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