Substitutes

 Substitute:  a person or thing acting or serving in place of another

There are lots of substitutes for the things we eat these days, like for sugar.....

I, personally, cannot abide the artificial stuff.  I'll take real sugar, real butter, real milk, real beef, real anything when it comes to food. 

There is one substitute, however, that I cannot do without.  When Jesus went to the Cross He became the substitute for my sins and paid the cost with His life.  I was thinking about this this morning in particular because I have a cracked tooth with a very old silver filling that can only be saved by having a crown put on it.  This afternoon the dentist will drill out the old filling, file down the tooth, then build it up so that the crown will have something to adhere to.  I'll get a temporary crown while the mold she'll take is sent to the lab.  I'll have to go back in about 2 weeks to have the permanent crown cemented in.  I'm familiar with this procedure because I already have several crowns!

I was struck by how getting my tooth capped is very much like "being saved"--the Christian term for being made right with God.  Just like my tooth will be saved by the work of the dentist, my soul has been saved by the work of Jesus.  Many years ago the dentist drilled out the decay and filled the hole with the filling.  When Jesus died on the Cross for me the decay called sin was removed from me.  Then His Holy Spirit filled me.  The filling in my tooth should have lasted a lifetime, but the wear and tear on my teeth due to grinding my teeth at night fractured what little tooth remained.  This grinding of my teeth represents my quenching the Spirit in me.  I often worried about things rather than turn my troubles over to God.  Now I have to go back and have the damage repaired.  The Good News is that it's never too late to pray for God's help.  The Holy Spirit can still work in my life if I give Him free reign in my life.  Just like the dentist will place a crown on my tooth, the Holy Spirit will be my Crown if I abide in Him fully.

Father, thank you for your Holy Spirit that enables me to live the life You've meant for me.  May I always remember that You are willing and able to save me from my troubles if I will but look to You.

Link to scripture:  Romans 8:26

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