Graft This

So I have had some serious dental work done recently. As the dentist was walking through the plan to extract a tooth she asked me if I wanted a bone graft done. She said it "helps fortify the area where we are removing the foundation of the tooth." So I had that done as part of the oral surgery. Good times.

Sometimes when we get rid of the bad things, or in my case a cracked and infected tooth you have to do some work after to repair it for the long haul.

That's true for more than my dental issues. It's true in life. We might pray all the time for God to help and even take away the bad things, but are we willing to do the hard work of replacing it with something healthy you can build on?

It's true for habits or even our thought life. Our men's group has spent a lot of time talking over the last few years about the reality of the spiritual battles we are fighting. One of the enemies main tools is through lies. The Bible calls him the "father of lies."

Those lies often lead to a toxic thought life or habits we run to because we are listening to things that are not true.

Sometimes we need to do a graft of our thought life. Put in a foundation of truth that only comes from the One who is perfect and has given us all a purpose for and in His Kingdom. To do that might mean removing the lies we are listening to and refreshing that with His truth. To be honest, that's easy to write, but the process of doing that might unearth some really painful and hard things.

Much like I had to get the tooth removed because it was not in good shape, we need to do that with areas of our life that prevent us from hearing and living in His truth and not the lies of the enemy. It helps to be in the habit of planting His truth in your heart consistently.

For me, it's not just reading the Bible (which is of tremendous value and importance) but I also need to fill my mind and ears with truth in other ways. For me that's music, podcasts and things that remind me of His great love and plans for me. There is a profound difference in my life when I am not doing that.

Just a reminder today, it might be time to do a self exam and maybe remove some things so that you can live and grow on a foundation of truth, not lies.

I hope it's not as painful as my toothache was, but even if it is... I feel so much better now.