I was having lunch with my son the other day when I was given a very interesting and, I must submit, saddening vision as a result of a conversation we were having. He was telling me that at a recent Sunday morning service where they attend church (one of the larger Christian denomination churches in this area) the theme and sermon was focused on the subject of prayer and praying. Towards the end of the service, the minister did something very unusual and remarkable: Through the miracle (no pun intended) of technology, he arranged to have the large overhead projection screen in the sanctuary set up so that members of the congregation could text prayer requests with their phones to a certain address and the request would instantly scroll across the overhead screen as he conducted the benediction and altar call at the end of the service. My son said that he was overwhelmed with what happened after the pastor gave the word to start texting.
He said that during the last 10-15 minutes of the service the overhead screen was inundated with scrolling petitions; some desperate, many heart-wrenching, all heart-felt and personal, and none repeating...FOR 15 MINUTES! He said he looked around at the himself at the smartly attired, peaceful, happy looking congregation and thought to himself, who ARE these petitioners baring so many desperate circumstances on the overhead screen?
Just at that moment, a closeup picture flashed into my spirit depicting a beautiful mouth with an open lips smile revealing a flawless row of pearly white teeth, quickly followed by a dentist's full mouth x-ray of the same set of teeth revealing ominous shadows of cavities and pockets of infected tooth decay. Having spent many hours of my life in a dentist's chair, I cringed at the sight of this vision. At first, the vision saddened me, as I begin to comprehend the significance of what I was looking at in my spirit; and then, its significance began to make me angry.
As you know, a good dental hygiene program requires three primary elements: A good diet, a consistent and conscientious program for cleansing the teeth and the mouth and regular visits to the dentist's office. Ignoring any or all of these elements put our teeth at significant risk. Once bacteria find a way to enter a tooth, most often through a weakness below the gum line, teeth are pretty much damaged or destroyed from the inside out, not the other way around. Of course, they can be damaged and broken from the outside by things like accidents and bad oral hygiene, but like so many other things God created for our amazing bodies, they have a phenomenal resilience to everyday wear and tear, in spite of us sweet-eaters and fair-weather flossers...And that's even before man adds some the protections and oral hygiene plans he has developed with God's help.
But internal tooth decay is a whole new ball game! When even the smallest of cavities begins its campaign of destruction, it is virtually impossible to stop its relentless and inevitable outcome in the natural; and the thing that is really insidious about the whole process is that until the decay destroys enough of the tooth to get to the nerves in the core or roots of the tooth, you have virtually no clue of the destruction that is taking place. There will be no pain and probably no discomfort, until...One day while you are merrily chomping away on your favorite food or savoring a mouthful of your favorite ice cream, a periodontal earthquake goes off in your head, measuring at least 9.0 to 10.0 on your nerve center's richter scale! It's then that you suddenly realize that you have a real problem: It's way too late to promise to change your dental hygiene practices and a dentist is about to become your new best friend, because, trust me, your brain will have nothing to do with the rest of what you or your body wants to do until that pain center is alleviated. And at the end of the day, there are only two things that are going to save that tooth, if it can still be saved: A miracle or a dentist - or sometimes both!
As I listened for the Holy Spirit's interpretation of this vision over the past few days, here is what I believe He is trying to show me to share with you about its meaning:
The beautiful mouth with the beauty queen-like smile revealing a perfect set of dazzling white teeth represents the congregation of a typical Christian church. From a spiritual standpoint, imagine that the church sanctuary is represented by a dentist office, that the preacher or pastor is represented by a dental hygienist, and that the dentist is God. Under ideal circumstances, the teeth are cared for at home by eating properly (eg, studying the Bible), and brushing and flossing (eg, self examination, prayer time) on a regular basis. During regular visits to the Dentist's office, the dental hygienist provides professional assistance with the exterior care of the teeth (Bible studies, Sunday school) and uses light, mirrors and, yes, x-rays (sermons) t0 help evaluate the individual and overall condition of the teeth and the effectiveness of their care, after-which the Dentist is invited in to remove cavities and decay, and to repair the damaged teeth and restore them to health.
Folks, I believe that what the Lord was showing me about all this is that the problem is way too many "mouths of teeth" are making it to the Dentist's office without ever getting in to see the Dentist! Sadly, and all too often, that's the result of the dental hygienists either not handing them off to the Dentist or trying to do the cavity repair work themselves. So, whether the allegory applies to congregations or to individuals, may I suggest that if you're not getting in to see the "Dentist" at your "dental office", then you need to find another "dental hygienist" or "dental office"...or both! By the way, this "Dentist" does make house calls if you can't wait for an appointment! And be careful about what you're "eating"!!
(*A note concerning the picture posted above: One day, as I was working on this post, I noticed a smudge or shadow on my screen to the right of the edit box that had not been there previously...and was blown away by what I saw when I looked more closely. I took a picture of my computer screen and posted above for you to see what I saw. Look closely at the shadow in the right side of the picture of my screen; it's an almost perfect image of a tooth! Boy, talk about confirmation!)
