May 2026

I had a tooth pulled this week. I’m kind of sad because it was my last whole tooth in my mouth. And it was my last wisdom tooth, too. So now I’m not as smart as I was the day before it happened!

The tooth was crammed full of the old metal filling so getting it out was no small feat. I heard the dentist say that he had sawed through the root so now he thought he could pull it out. Yikes! That tooth put up a good fight.

The truth is it was a solid tooth. It took a lot for them to loosen it and cut it out of my mouth. And you must wonder why they go to so much trouble to take out a tooth that isn’t causing any pain, isn’t loose, or isn’t troublesome. Well, it seems the tooth was being a bad neighbor. Just because it didn’t cause me any discomfort didn’t mean it wasn’t decaying and falling apart. And the decay it was experiencing was spreading to my very expensive crown next door. So, to prevent any further damage to my crown, the wisdom tooth had to go.

I couldn’t help but think about this as a metaphor for our Christian walk too. We all know people like my old wisdom tooth. Kind of decaying and broken, filled with sin. But we keep them around because they are part of the gang, the family, or the unit.

What if they are hurting you more by being in your life than if they were not. I know that is an astonishing thing to say when I preach reconciliation always. And I still firmly believe in bearing with each other and forgiveness and always trying reconciliation in relationships. That is what Jesus taught us.

But scripture also warns about being yoked to the unrepentant. “Bad company corrupts good character.” (1 Cor. 15:33) And there are others. Being next to a decaying spirit is dangerous. Because that decay is contagious. It comes in various forms like a bad attitude, being ungrateful, selfish, and prideful. Once we’ve got the decay and it is taking hold, we are much more prone to sin ourselves.

The relationships we have with others matter in so many ways. We stand next to each other daily supporting and encouraging one another. But if decay is allowed to spread, a problem occurs. We must always be watching our spiritual health to make sure there is no one bringing decay. Don’t let a bad neighbor decay your spirit of faith. Stand firm and stay true.  Peace. Pastor Lisa

^“ Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit.” Galatians 6:8