I’ve had a toothache lately. It has completely laid me out for quite awhile, hence the lack of posts. Actually it hasn’t really been the tooth that has bothered me the most, but other symptoms that have come with it: headaches, earaches, nausea, and just flat out feeling sick.

Yeah, that’s right, my tooth is probably infected.

This particular tooth has been a known problem for awhile now. It has had a cavity, but it’s placement is so far back, right up against the back of my jaw, (it’s one of my wisdom teeth) that the dentist couldn’t get to it to fill the cavity. My dentist voiced quite a long time ago that it would be probably better to remove it. A fate I have been avoiding.

Even with the cavity, I was still trying to avoid getting it removed.

I was scared!

Not that I’m very afraid of the dentist. I’ve always had good experiences. But I’ve never needed major work done, and adding to that the unknowns and complications made by my other medical problems and I would just rather not bother.

Of course those medical complications are now the reason why it’s taking so long to actually get in to get it pulled, even after it got so bad that I was ready to run to the dentist in spite of all my fears.

I really haven’t wanted to do it. You know? I don’t want to go through the pain of getting that rotting tooth yanked out of my jaw. I don’t want to face the trial of recovery. Well, not until it really, really, hurt!

That is the thing though, about rotting things in our life. So often we don’t want to look at them, to face them. So often we’d rather just skip over and move on, wanting to think the issue will resolve itself.

But you know the thing about rotting, dead things? They spread.

You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. Matthew 12:34-35

I heard a story once about an absolutely horrible punishment that Rome would give to murderers.

They would strap the dead, rotting, corpse of the victim to the murderers back, and condemn them to live out the rest of their lives with it.

Not that they “lived out” the rest of their lives.

Because as the dead man would rot, that rottenness would infect the live tissue it was strapped to, and the murderer was condemned to literally rot alive, until he died.

I know, you really didn’t want to know that right? Stuff of nightmares.

But that is how anything rotten is.

One rotten apple spoils the barrel.

One rotten tooth can eventually infect the teeth around it, the jaw, even get that infection into the bloodstream.

Gangrene, frostbite, dangerous because the tissue has been killed off and infection sets in. Infection spread from rotting tissue that can kill the living tissue it is still attached to.

When something is rotting, you have to cut it off before the infection spreads.

If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. Matthew 5:29-30

What else in our lives can be rotten?

What else in our lives can be infectious?

Rotten thoughts?

Rotten feelings?

Bitterness? Hatred? Resentment?

The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. James 3:6

Lust? Greed? Envy?

Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full of darkness. See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. Luke 11:35

Self-Pity? Selfishness? Pride?

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Romans 7:24

Don’t these too, infect? Don’t these too, slowly rot away at our lives?

Don’t we also tend to not want to face these things? Root them out? Cut them off?

This world allows for a lot of rottenness. Putrid ideas and images are regularly thrown at us through media, and the culture itself condones, even encourages, things that we know simply aren’t good for our lives. Yet somehow we think that these things won’t hurt us?

We cling to our “right” to bitterness. Our “right” to watch or do or think whatever we like.

We really need some better practices on what we allow into our lives, our hearts.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy- think about such things. Philippine 4:8

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Proverbs 4:23

It’s not easy to root out all the things in our hearts that are not pure, not lovely. Much easier to avoid, to ignore, to let fester. But we are not meant to live lives like that.

But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. Romans 8:10

The spirit gives life. Life to the dead places. If we’d only be willing to reach out and work with Him, let Him work in us.

I promise you, He is way better than a dentist.

Meanwhile, I hope I get in to that dentist soon!

Joy Aletheia Stevens