Body Life and Kingdom Investments: Dependence, Decision, Deliverence

I spent most of my morning at the Dentist office. I have one thing to say. Ouch! Yep, they worked hard on my mouth for nearly four hours (you read that right - 4). Now, it's not the dentist fault. It was not as if she was inept or deficient in her dental knowledge or practice. Nope, the problem is that I haven't been to a dentist in nearly 5 years. So, in some respects if you calculate the average per year then I really only spent about 40 minutes in the chair today! Okay, so I'm an optimist. Either that or just really stupid (you choose; be nice).

Everything went pretty well until she pulled out one drill that sounded like (I am not kidding) a Jumbo Jet hitting the brakes as it first touches the tarmac for the landing. You know that sound (and feeling). When you hear that sound there is the slightest moment of wonder - will this thing land upright or will the brakes cause it to skid and squirm all over the runway eventually landing us in a ditch next to some poor guy’s house who just wanted to get away from everything when he built there years ago. That was how I felt, when I first heard the drill. Will this drill, I wondered, hit the target safely and excavate the correct part of my decaying tooth? Or will it go wild and squirm all over my mouth causing me to 'bite' down in pain and screaming like a 'stuck pig?' Well, since I am writing this blog (in no small amount of pain) you can probably guess that the 'Jumbo Jet hitting the brakes' drill hit the right spot and got the job done, in spite of all my unfounded fears and concerns to the contrary.

This experience with the dentist, however, has caused me to reflect on my life as a pastor. I have wondered, 'do people view me in a similar way that I view the dentist?' Or, perhaps better put, 'do people view the church the way I view a dentist office?' You see, like me and the dentist, some people never darken the doors of the church until something in their life says ouch (e.g. toothache). When they finally cross over to the other side and enter in, they do so wondering what they will find, how they will be received and will the visit pay off in the end? Will we reject them out of hand, because their lives are full of cavities? Will we admonish them for not coming in sooner (you know, before it got so bad)? Will we ask them if they have been praying twice a day and reading there Bible regularly? While they may not express their concerns and emotions in those precise words, believe me they are there - and they are real!

So, the question becomes (for me at least), 'what does the church offer a life that is full of decay?' Okay, before I answer - back to my dental adventure. My dentist sat me down in the chair and basically said the following: 'Mr. Gainey, apart from not visiting a dentist enough, it is obvious that you have tried to keep your teeth in order (yes, I do floss and brush daily).' She went on to explain to me that, though I gave it my best shot - my teeth have still ended up decaying and slowly, over time, they have literally been dying in my mouth (now, not all of them, but enough). She then told me something amazing. She told me that she was going to do for me what I have been unable to do for myself! Yes, she was going to fully clean my teeth and, get this, restore the ones that were too far gone - you heard that right - she was going to make them right again, just as God originally intended. She didn't berate me for having decay; she simply pointed me to the answer for my dying teeth and decaying enamel. Man that was pretty cool.

Then came the tough part - I had to say 'okay' I will let you do this work on me. I had to make a decision to trust the dentist with my teeth. And believe me, this was no easy decision. In fact, she told me that the choice was mine to make - I could keep doing what I was doing and hope for the best, or I could trust in her and her staff to 'set my teeth right again.' Now, I knew what that meant - it meant pain and agony. It meant that I would have to face my own decay and submit myself to someone who could perform a surgery - one that I was incapable of performing. And, guess what, four hours later I was up and out of there - with new teeth (well not totally - I have a couple more sessions yet) and a relieved mind that my tooth was no longer going to ache and that my mouth was back on track to carrying me through another forty years of living!

Let me make my point (I have rambled on enough): people who need God, need him because of 'life decay.' Perhaps they have tried everything in the book and still continue to decay - some slowly, some quickly, but we all decay nonetheless. So, they show up at our church, or they stop by your cubicle at work or interrupt your yard work in your neighborhood. When they show up they wonder, what will happen next, how they will be received? Will we point them to the One who can do for them what they cannot do for themselves? Or will we ridicule them because they are 'decaying?' To me the answer is so clear - funny enough, I learned it in a whole new way while visiting, of all places, the dentist!



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