Flossing

I don’t floss.  Never have.  I have been told my whole life that flossing helps prevent tooth decay.  All I knew was, it hurt my gums.  And my fingers.  Plus, it’s gross. Do I regret it?  Stare into my complete absence of dental work while I say, “Nooooooooooooo.”

Now it turns out that I may have been right and Dr. Naumann wrong all these years.  The Associated Press did an in-depth report a while back that mostly debunked the whole connection between flossing and dental health.  The federal government no longer recommends flossing.  The American Dental Association is sticking to its familiar position, but the studies cited by the ADA tend strongly to be the ones bought and paid for by the people trying to sell you dental floss.  So there’s that.

The point is not to convince you either way on the specific issue of flossing. The point is to emphasize that actual facts are generally a better measuring stick than human beings’ interpretation of them. 

How you “feel” about your relationship with the Lord is, at best, a by-product of your actual condition.  Saved ones may “feel” lost because they are focusing on their own missteps instead of the grace of God that comes in Jesus (1 John 5:11-13).  Lost ones may “feel” saved because they have constructed their own scenario of salvation instead of submitting to God’s revealed word (Romans 10:2-3).  For the one, question God’s grace long enough and you may find yourself outside of it (Galatians 5:4); for the other, those feelings that are so sought and prized actually serve as a barrier to salvation.

Learn what actually saves you (Ephesians 2:8).  Learn what you must do to find that salvation (Hebrews 5:9).  Take care of the knowledge, and the knowledge will ultimately take care of the feelings.