Silent Decay

By Ken and Jan Merop

Cleveland, Tennessee

 

My tongue probed my upper back tooth finding quite a gap.  I wondered out loud to my husband, “How did I lose a filling and not know it?  I hope I didn’t swallow it.”

There was no pain; except there was a rough edge that scraped along my tongue when I swallowed.  That discomfort led me to the dentist.

She x-rayed and found some things she could help me with including filing down that offensive sharp edge.  Then she said, “That tooth has to come out.”

A few days later, the pain began leading to its extraction.  After the oral surgeon pulled it, he showed me the tooth.  I hadn’t lost a filling.

Rather, the gap was caused by decay.  Slowly, the decay had eaten away the integrity of the tooth without pain’s reminder.

Over the years, we have been warned about decay forming in our nation’s values and integrity.  It has been eroding year upon year until we find ourselves at a time when the pain is making itself known.

The things we know are inherently good, are being called evil.  The blatantly evil things are now being called good.  Now, where have we read this warning before?

It’s in Isaiah 5: 20 NKJV where it says, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”

Our God is a God of order, justice, mercy, truth, compassion, love and goodness.  He has promised that when we follow his ways, worship him, look after others, and embrace truth, we will be rewarded.

However, if we choose to be self-indulgent, sinful, and lawbreakers, we are setting ourselves up for chaos and upheaval.

We’ve seen this decay spreading throughout the beautiful United States of America.  A place where we have known freedom of religion, of speech, and a society where our ideas and industriousness are rewarded.

Now these foundations are crumbling under deceptive practices that are anything but the truth on which we were founded.

It’s disheartening.  However, there is hope.

Having just celebrated the Fourth of July…Independence Day…let’s remember all those who fought to keep us free.  And remember the hope in God’s Word found in 2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJV, “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

May it be so, Lord Jesus.  Selah

Blooming Sparklers

There’s nothing like Fourth of July fireworks

to get our hearts pounding.

The chorus of ‘ooh’s and ah’s’ is like

an unrehearsed choir naturally blending.

But, it doesn’t have to happen once a year.

Let your garden colorfully explode with blooms

that nurture that same delight…yet without a sound.

Let your heart explode in the wonder of God’s creation.

Let the ‘ooh’s and ah’s’ begin!

“In the beginning God created…and God saw that it was good.”

Genesis 1: 1 and 12b, NKJV

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After six years in the mountains of Avery County, Ken and Jan Merop are now living in the hilly Tennessee countryside of Cleveland, TN…just outside of Chattanooga.  Ken’s photos can be seen at kenmeropphotography.com.

Read more Christian news from Ken and Jan HERE.

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