[The Mayor]

August 6, 2004

Afraid Of The Dentist?

Read: 1 Samuel 12:6-25

Do not fear. You have done all this wickedness; yet do not turn aside from following the Lord. —1 Samuel 12:20

Bible In One Year: Psalms 70-71; Romans 8:22-39

---

Why are so many people afraid of going to the dentist? It may be the result of a bad experience. One woman said of her childhood dentist, "I started getting upset and crying and he said, 'If you don't shut up, I'm going to slap you.'" She now drives 70 miles to The Dental Fears Clinic in Kansas City.

People who are afraid to go to God have a similar problem. Some may have been mistreated by spiritual leaders. Others may have learned unhealthy fear of God as children. Still others, overwhelmed by their sin, see only God's righteous demand for justice and miss the loving provision of His Son's sacrifice for sin.

The people in today's Bible reading (1 Samuel 12) were afraid because Samuel exposed their sin. But he also told them that God longed to forgive them.

We need to replace irrational fears with healthy ones. God's Word repeatedly assures us that the pain of going to Him is far less than the pain of avoiding Him. It also assures us that because of Jesus we can "come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy" (Hebrews 4:16).

A dentist fills the holes in your teeth, but God wants to fill the holes in your heart—with Himself. Don't let your unhealthy fear stop Him. —Mart De Haan

The love of God is my pillow,
Soft and healing and wide;
I rest my soul in its comfort,
And in its calm I abide. —Long

Only God can fill the emptiness of an aching heart.

[cyborg]

I hate dentists :-)

[Aeronaut]

Morning Mayor.

[Billie]

Good morning, Rus. Ooohh, don't even like to think about dentists! Thanks for the coffee and devotional as always - glad I got the thread up before you had to leave this morning. :)

[ST.LOUIE1]

Happy FRiday, little (((((((Hobbit))))))

: )

[ST.LOUIE1]

Morning, Russ.

And I like my dentist. I haven't had to have much dental work, but what I have had has been pretty much painless.

[GailA]

Good morning. Well my friend culled 25% of the vote in a 5 man race, he didn't win, but we still got a good conservative for the slot.

I'm off to the dentist this afternoon to get a filling replaced, lost part of it last week.

[Dubya]

Email I received

You are Priceless

A well-known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20.00 bill.

In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this $20 bill?" Hands started going up.

He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this.

He proceeded to crumple the $20 dollar bill up.

He then asked, "Who still wants it?" Still the hands were up in the air.

Well, he replied, "What if I do this?"

And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe.

He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty. "Now, who still wants it?"

Still the hands went into the air.

My friends, we have all learned a very valuable lesson.

No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20.

Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless.

But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value. Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still
priceless to HIM WHO STILL LOVES YOU.

The worth of our lives comes not in what we do or who we know, but by WHO WE ARE.

You are special - Don't EVER forget it."

Count your blessings, not your problems.

And remember: amateurs built the ark ... professionals built the Titanic.

If God brings you to it - He will bring you through it.