Here is the situation: I am super tired and trying to get ready for bed quickly. I decide I'm too tired to floss (I usually am a big flosser...not tonight, getting to bed one minute faster seemed like the best choice.) so I settle for brushing my teeth. While I was anxious to get to bed, I did try to brush well, if not a little better than usual, to make up for the lack of flossing, of course. Anyway, I brushed my teeth and they felt clean, but I felt like my breath was not up to par (aka minty fresh).
{sorry if this is a lot of information about my personal hygiene, I promise I have a point}
So , I decide to multi-task... swish around some mouth wash while I wash my face. Then, I think about it more... "does bad breath really equal dirty teeth? Or can your teeth be clean even if you can't taste the minty-freshness? Further, what is really my goal here? To prevent cavities or to have good breath?"
Now, I understand this sounds very odd and not something you share with others but...
Don't we do this with a lot of things???
I do.
I focus on the outside, on the external, on the surface, on what people see ("do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit..." Phil 2:3)... and NOT what God commands me and the apostles urge and plead us to focus on the internal, the heart. ("...he LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7b)
I drink coffee a lot. I try to have gum on me always so I can combat the coffee breath once my tumbler runs dry.
My breath may be polar-ice-fresh, but that does NOT mean my teeth are clean.
{disclaimer: this may not be the most ideal example..i am not advocating for the preservation or perpetuation of bad breath..just take this illustration loosely. it is merely the situation that sparked these thoughts conviction.}
All that to say, that I focus too much on how things appear to others, how they make me look, what others think of me. It doesn't matter if my breath is minty fresh---my teeth are still dirty.
I know it.
The Lord knows it.
And trying to cover it is pride.
