Have you ever had the amazing sensation after brushing your teeth with Muscle Rub Pain Relieving Cream? Well, I have. I had the un-pleasure of doing so while on my 3rd year wedding anniversary with my husband. Our individual toiletries bag was packed and waking up one morning in the hotel, I went into the bathroom to brush and dug out... you guessed it... the Muscle Rub pain relieving cream instead of the toothpaste. Now, it says that it suppose to give hours of relief from minor arthritis, backache, muscle & joint pain. If used as it is suppose to be used, it works well. However, I don't think you are suppose to ingest it, let alone brush with it. Well, not realizing that I picked up the wrong tube, I proceeded to squeeze the white pasty substance on my toothbrush. It was bright white and went on smoothly. I put the brush covered with the substance to my mouth and began brushing. I didn't notice anything at first. Then I realized that I wasn't tasting a minty taste and thought... that's odd. I continued brushing. Then I realized that I'm tasting something that I just can't identify what it is... that's really odd, what's wrong with my taste buds. The taste stayed as a bland, but nasty, unable to identify taste. However, then I began feeling some weird sensations in my mouth faintly at first. I continue brushing and just pass it off as me being weird this morning. Then, sensations of slight burning around my gum line and my lips with a refreshing menthol effect began happening. I pause and think... ok what is going on. Now the refreshing menthol effect is getting stronger... I begin realizing that something is wrong. So, then I looked at the tube on the counter and realized what it was. It was the Muscle Rub pain relieving cream. The problem is, I didn't need this for my mouth since my mouth didn't have minor arthritis, backache, muscle & joint pain in it... except for a little tmj. So, I began rinsing... the problem is now the refreshing menthol effect has become overwhelming and the gums continue burning. I began squealing as I'm brushing with water and rinsing my mouth. It all doesn't want to come out at one time. So, I keep rinsing... and squealing. My husband comes to see what is wrong. I talk through the weird sensations of my mouth and tell him what happened. He tries to stifle a grin. Since he is trying to laugh, I proceed to try to kiss him to share the sensation and he pulls back quickly. I finish rinsing, but the burning and menthol sensation continues to last. I finally get to share a kiss with my husband about an hour later and then his mouth begins to burn a bit as well for about an hour. The burning and menthol sensations in my mouth continues for hours. My teeth felt very clean after brushing with real toothpaste! My tongue felt a bit numb. The fire in my gums finally died down.
You know, after I experienced this, I said to myself... "there has to be a lesson in this for me... aside from watch what you are doing". The lesson I learned is a spiritual lesson.
Spiritual Lesson:
The tooth paste and water is the promised cleanser - Jesus Christ
The Muscle Rub pain relieving cream is any substitute could be good or bad.
In each one of us is an area in our being where only God is meant to dwell. When we don't want God there in complete control, we try to fill that area with a substitute. Now, the substitute in and of itself may not be bad. It could be many good things. But, when we try to put it in place of God, it is being used in the wrong way and has now become our God. We try to fill that area with anything and everything that we can because it is a hole and is empty without Jesus, but it must be filled. We use the Muscle Rub (substitute) thinking that it will take away our pain and make us feel better. Muscle Rub, when used correctly, can help take away pain. However, when use incorrectly can cause a miserable situation. In the same way, we will do things to fill the void with the wrong things that will put us in a miserable situation. Then we burn and hurt and try to pull others into our misery because misery loves company. Others will laugh at our situation and don't want to help us or share in our pain. But, Jesus did just that. He helped us and shared in our pain, more pain than we even experienced. He took our pain so that we wouldn't have to experience it. He took death away from us. When we use substitutes to cover our sin & wrong doing, the results of what we have done will become overwhelming to the point that we can't stand it any longer and is seeking anything and everything to try to relieve the discomfort. Sometimes we seek love to relieve the discomfort, or alcohol, or drugs, ets... However, there is only one solution to that discomfort just as there was only one solution to the mouth situation. I had to re-brush with the correct substance and rinse and rinse and rinse and rinse thoroughly. In the same way, we have to go to Christ and confess our sin and mistakes and mess-ups, repent from it, Make it right to the best of our ability and claim his blood to wash away the mess. Muscle Rub is a poison to ingest, but the water rinses it away. In the same way, sin is a poison and promises death, but Jesus took the death on Himself and washed our sin away.
Now, even when we've been cleansed by Christs blood, it doesn't mean that we are perfect and the mess that we did is not made perfect all of a sudden. It will have results from our actions. So, we may still have some things that we need to brush away, but that will still effect us for a little while... but we keep claiming Christ again and again and again thoroughly until Christ and only Christ. The power of Christ cleanses and rinses away all sin. He also continues to change you so that even if you are still having the temptation of sin that keeps burning overwhelmingly in you, it tempts you less and less as time goes by as you keep rinsing with Christ. Less and less things become a temptation to you as Christ in you becomes more and more. That can only happen when we claim the cleansing blood of Christ to cleanse and rinse all sin and wrong doing away from us. Nothing can substitute that. Only Christ & His blood can do that! No other.
So, what do you choose today? Do you choose a substitute or do you choose Jesus Christ?
Choose today to set your mind to Living Victoriously in Christ!