Clean teeth and toothpaste

As a mom, I have encountered many interesting mornings. Trying to get my husband off to work and my daughter ready for school makes for chaos and I sometimes forget the important stuff. Once in a while, trying to get my kindergartner out the door on time means she forgets to brush her teeth. My little three year old often forgets too. Before you panic, I am trying to get some good habits started and they are doing better! However, if I were to tell people, yes, I have toothpaste, toothbrushes, etc., they would assume that they are used and we have fresh smelling breath all the time. Ha!

Brushing your teeth requires action, putting toothpaste on the brush and using circular motions to get the result of clean teeth. Just like taking medicine makes us feel better, studying accomplishes good grades, using dish soap causes our dishes to sparkle, shampooing our hair makes it smell nice and look good, and putting laundry detergent in the washing machine removes stains and refreshes our clothes. We get a result which is the consequence of an action, course or operation!(Webster's definition)

Isn't that also true in our spiritual lives as well? When we tell people we are Christians, they might assume we are reading the Bible faithfully, praying and bearing fruit. Just like the toothpaste doesn't make clean teeth if it stays in the tube, God's Word doesn't change people unless they read it! We can't expect to stay close to God, learn His Will for our lives, if we fail to read what He has for us, and talk with him. It is definitely a daily thing. We can't expect our lives to bear the fruit of the Spirit if we are only talking to God once a week on Sunday mornings. Just like brushing our teeth each morning freshens our breath, spending time with God every day give us "freshness" in our souls!

Look with me at the following verses to see how much action we are called to do.

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch itself cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. John 15:4-5

We have to "abide" in Christ since He is the vine. Abide simply means to remain; to last; to conform to.(Webster's definition) We just need to stick with Him and conform our lives to the His Word. Then, we come to next word of action, "bears" much fruit. Bearing fruit is an action and a result of being filled with the Spirit and most of all abiding in Christ. So you see being a Christian is not a passive thing. We are called to be active in Christ so others in the world clearly see the result of His work in our lives.

I encourage you to go be "minty" today! Be that sweet smelling person, that is abiding in Christ and bearing fruit, so that others wonder what you've got that they don't have, besides fresh breath of course!