Progress One Tooth at a Time

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.  John 15:5

A number of years ago, I finally made the decision to get my teeth fixed.  They looked this.

My dentist had told me that if I did not get them fixed, it was only a matter of time before I would be on dentures because they would all fall out.  My bite was off.  So I went to the orthodontist and he set me on a treatment plan that would take more than two years.  It was a pain in the you know what.  You see teeth move quite slowly and they have to be slowly moved into place.  There is no option to yank them into place.  Our quick fix mentality as Americans just doesn’t fit well into the slow methodical movement of orthodontics.  However if I followed the treatment plan, my teeth would be fitted into place and all would be aligned.

So it is with growth in Christ.  It simply cannot right all of the wrongs overnight.  There is not quick fix.  Oh yes, we can confess our sins and God says He will forgive us but that cannot restore our relationship overnight.  Why does David say “restore to us the joy of your salvation” after he says to “create in us a clean heart”?  God is not a genie whom we can manipulate.  A relationship starts with the right treatment plan.  A steady intake of God’s word and investing in the relationship.  I used to view a steady intake of God’s word as a form of legalism, but that has changed.  Even when I don’t feel like it, I force my time into God’s word.  You see if I don’t, I might compromise my treatment plan.  I want steady growth, steady maturity.  God in return has made these times in the word incredibly joyful and revealed truths that I could never see through human eyes.  Spiritual orthodontics follows the right treatment plan.  I want my spiritual teeth in alignment so they look like below.