You Need To Floss Every Day

You Need to Floss Every Day

Going to the dentist is not one of my favorite things to do. As a matter of fact, I am writing this devotional from the dentist’s reception area. After having fractured my teeth while playing a pickup game of basketball in high school, I have tried to stay out of the dentist’s office as much as I can. Steel instruments scraping my teeth while I smell latex gloves just isn’t something I enjoy.

But visiting the dentist’s office a couple of times a year is mission critical for my overall health and well-being. The checkup reinforces what I am doing well, and the lecture from the hygienist motivates me to floss more.

The discipline of flossing removes the particles that can get in all the wrong places and cause decay. Like flossing, the spiritual discipline of confession removes the remnants of our mistakes because we take our sins to the Lord and ask him to cleanse us. I am afraid that, like flossing, we don’t practice confession enough, because we don’t take inventory of our ways enough. But a healthy heart and soul are worth the daily discipline of searching out our ways.

Psalm 139:23-24 states, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.” After the Lord points out your offensive ways, confess to him, acknowledging your errors. First John 1:9 declares this good news to us: “If we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.” Be cleansed of your ways that offend the Lord. Remember, just as flossing is good for the gums, confession is good for the soul.

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

Psalm 139:23-24