From the Pulpit: The whole tooth!

A pastor needs to be wise when sharing personal matters from their past.  We don’t want to come across as being perfect and above everyone else. We also don’t want to reveal too much – things like bank robberies or hijacked ocean liners are best left out. In short, we need to be balanced, vulnerable and transparent as possible.

This story is very real, and I’ll share it honestly and openly. For the record, it’s true! It’s been several years now that I’ve gotten over this issue … it centers around BUBBLE GUM. I’ve always loved bubble gum!

I like the taste and the sugar of it. I especially like it when it’s soft and fresh. I’ve always enjoyed the little comics found in the “Bazooka” brand, but I was open to other brands (maybe a bit too open). Somewhere along the way, I thought that if one was good, two or three should be that much better. 

Of course, it’s always fun to blow bubbles and snap – so everyone would know how much I like bubble gum. There were a few problems with this – sometimes I would slobber a bit. Chewing bubble gum could be a messy affair, especially when a bubble would get too large and burst all over my face. 

As much as I like bubble gum, I didn’t like it after the sugar disappeared and all sense of flavor would leave, and I’d be left with a mouth full of this hard, clumpy tasteless glob. This habit of chewing bubble gum eventually caught up to me…my dentist said rather coldly – “What have you done to your teeth?” – I had over a dozen cavities!

Learning the hard way can be an effective way to remember what not to do. It can also be very motivational to change. So, I became motivated and stopped chewing bubble gum! 

In our day to day lives, we make hundreds of choices – some for good and some decisions that can put us into sticky situations… God created mankind and in Ephesians 2:10, He calls us his masterpiece! However, God knew before the beginning of time that we would mess up – we would chew the bubble gum! In other words, we naturally like sin!

Romans 3:23 tells us that we all have sinned, we all fall short of God’s standards. That’s no surprise to us, we know we’re guilty and our history of sin is well documented in the Bible. We’re lost, EXCEPT for the grace God offers through the work of Jesus Christ – his death and resurrection. The question to each of us is do we want to claim his grace? 

Ephesians 2:8-9(NLT) says – “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.  Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.”

We can’t earn it or buy it; we can only receive it as a gift. At our core, we know we’re sinful and even lost given God’s standards, but God’s forgiveness through His Son gives us perfect standing before Him. God wants to reclaim his “Masterpiece” to be reunited with him for all eternity. That my friends, is the great love God has for us.––––