The Tooth, the Whole Tooth, and Nothing but the Tooth
Have you ever discovered that the ideals you thought you were so faithfully upholding were in fact unwittingly being cast aside under your very nose? As our children were growing up, and before xylitol and stevia were widely available, we decided most sugar substitutes were not healthy choices for us. If an item was labeled sugar-free, it was taboo in our home. Relatives were baffled by our decision, as we were not health nuts, enjoyed desserts with abandon, and therefore looked like we would benefit from sugar-free treats, if you get my drift. But we were adamant that we did not want our young children ingesting the questionable chemicals associated with sugar-free items. Imagine our dismay when we discovered that what we had carefully, maybe self-righteously, avoided all those years was in the very toothpaste we used two to three times a day!
Do you think that this could never happen to you? Have you taught your children to never lie, then strung them along with tales of Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, or the Tooth Fairy? Have you instructed them about the mercies of a sovereign God, then exclaimed about your “lucky” experience or your “unlucky” accident? Do you ask your children for the “magic” word when you desire politeness, even though we are commanded to avoid magic and every sort of sorcery? Do you have your child make a wish before blowing out the candles on a birthday cake, or maybe wish on a falling star? When you instruct them to honor you, do they see that same attitude in your life towards your parents?
The toothpaste we are currently using has no sugar substitute. Yes, it was a bit difficult getting use to it. Sugar substitutes can be up to 400 times sweeter than sugar itself, and taste is a powerful magnet. What else have we given our children a taste for? How powerful are the little compromises that we make in our family life, and how will they affect our children’s taste for the unholy? Those that trivialize these compromises have forgotten that this world is not a playground, but a battlefield. If you do not feel yourself involved in skirmishes with the evil one, perhaps it is because you pose no threat.
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12
