Sometimes I want to believe that my faith will make my decisions easy. That somehow believing in God is this magic elixir that makes everything work out. To be honest I’m not sure where this idea comes from. I don’t remember ever sitting down and learning this. It’s just this thought that my mind is always drifting towards. Of course if you look at the Bible it becomes obvious that the people closest to God are almost always those with huge challenges (some may call them disasters) in their lives. Jonah was eaten by a whale for cryin’ out loud!
Today is one of those days where I feel like I was just eaten by a whale. A whale named ‘the dentist’. I went in for a routine cleaning and learned I had a cavity. Now the real issue is that this cavity is on the same tooth I paid $250 to get fixed a few months ago. A tooth that was part of a $5000 dental package involving removal of wisdom teeth, filling cavities, and getting a crown. And for those of you scoring at home, it was as much fun as it sounds.
That was hard to deal with because, well, I don’t have $5000 laying around in a bucket marked “doing nothing”. But at least in some way I felt like it was my fault. I had skipped my regular visits to the dentist for a few years. So in a way I thought I at least deserved some cavities or tooth problems. Maybe not $5000 worth, but there was still some culpability there. In my mind I told myself “lesson learned.”
Today is a different story. Since that initial visit I’ve had 3 cleanings, I brush 2-3 times a day and floss regularly. I’m conscientious of my diet, I don’t drink pop or coffee. I do everything I’m supposed to in order to protect my teeth. Sometimes I wonder if I’m too obsessive. But it still wasn’t enough. Now I’m staring at $1000 bill and a wasted $250 from last year.
Right now I have a choice to make. I can choose to get the tooth fixed or I can ignore the problem and do nothing, telling myself it’s not fair. Depending what I decide, each choice comes with its own set of consequences and problems. And while one is an obviously better solution, I am free to choose to ignore the cavity. No one is forcing me to make the “right” choice.
But there’s another choice for me as well, one that may not be as obvious. I can choose to be angry, (a highly tempting choice by the way), or I can choose to accept reality and turn to God so I can demonstrate his love even though I don’t feel much like doing it.
Again each of these choices comes with consequences and God does not force us to make the “right” choice. We have to decide for ourselves what path we want to follow.
Often we are confronted with situations where we don’t feel much like behaving like Jesus. We don’t feel much like ascribing worth to people. And we don’t feel much like embracing God. But it’s in those times that it becomes crucial. Because it is these choices that set us apart as Kingdom people. It’s actions like this that show others we’re not just people who say nice things - but only when our lives are going well.
The Bible is filled with choices people had to make in order to follow God. Often times these situations were less than ideal. And their choices cost them friends, family, money, and even their lives. I’m sure Jesus could have escaped his fate on the cross if he chose to. He could have called down angels or lightning or a swarm of fighter planes to protect himself. But he chose to die. Choice is how you explain Stephen’s ability to pray for forgiveness for the very people who were throwing large rocks at him so that they could kill him. He chose to emulate God’s love and sacrifice for all people – even those who hated him.
There are many examples of people sacrificing everything to choose to follow God when the choice not to follow him was so much more appealing. It kind of puts my $1000 of dental work in perspective. But even so, I still have a choice to make. And sometimes making that choice is still difficult.
