Remember what a big deal it was when you were losing your baby teeth?  It was pretty cool and pretty scary at the same time.  I remember thinking permanent teeth was the ultimate sign that I was all grown up.  I remember harboring a vague suspicion that the tooth fairy was a joke but I liked the money, so I played along.  I also noticed she had a tendency to forget to come on nights when my parents were particularly tired, but that’s another story.  I still thought the whole thing was cool and I wanted those teeth out!

But I also remember being afraid of actually pulling the teeth.  I think I have a pretty low pain tolerance and that was probably part of it.  I also think I was afraid of parts of my body falling out.  I had never lived life without those teeth and I wasn’t particularly eager for them to go.  Maybe I’m the only one, but I would sometimes leave a tooth in my mouth way longer than it needed to stay.  It would just dangle there by a tiny flap of skin.  It was obviously on it’s way out.  I just needed to find the courage to yank it.

Sin and baby teeth are kind of the same.

I’m guessing there’s some sin in your life that you really want out.  You know life is going to be better without it.  You know it’s the next step in your Christian maturity.  You also know it’s inevitably falling out at some point.  But we can be so afraid to yank the sin out of our life.  Maybe because we’re afraid it’ll hurt too much.  Maybe because we can’t imagine life without it.  But we leave it dangling there by a thread for a really long time, right?

Let me toss some Scripture in the direction of the dangling baby tooth of sin:

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. – Romans 6: 11-12

But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts. – Romans 13:14

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. – Romans 12:2

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. – Galatians 5:16

Here’s the point:  yank the tooth!!

I know it’s not always easy and it might even be a little frightening.  But life on the other side is so worth it.