Control

I was at the dentist today. I had chipped a tooth and needed it fixed so there I was. You know the deal: he did the novacaine, put those big metal clamps on my teeth, and induced an axiety attack with the high frequencies of his drill. After he was done, he had to check my bite to make sure everything was ok. He grabbed my jaw and tried to move it. "Now just relax", he said. You know, you figure it would be easy to just let go and relax. Right when I would relax, he would begin to move my jaw and there I went again tightening it. Lucky for me, he was a patient dentist. He was able to check his work and it was superb.

I say all this because I saw the parallel immediately. We feel a lot of times as if God is trying to fix us more than He wants to enjoy us (and us to enjoy Him). We read the Scriptures and see all these ways we need to improve and then look for ways to do it. I really feel like this is tightening the jaw. (God fixes us as we enjoy Him) God is moving here, God is making the circumstances, God is checking His work. To tell the truth, the work is already done. God has already fixed us through Christ. His check is simply "do we believe it". Do we believe we are fixed? When we believe it and stop trying to prove it, it is amazing how quick our behavior falls in line. When we try to act right, improve this, do the "Christian thing", we lose sight of who we are. The work is already done. We are children of God. As long as our walk with God is boils down to being "sanctified", we will never know the glory of being His child. His love through the cross let's us relax and enjoy Him. Everything flows out of that. My tooth is fine now and it is glorious.