I find no pleasure in going to the dentist. I know that probably does not come as much of a surprise to you. In fact, if I said I liked going to the dentist you would probably think there was something terribly wrong with me.
Many of my deep-seated emotional issues with the dentist’s office comes from regular moments of agony I had as a teen and into my college years with one particular dentist’s office. Each time I would go I would be sentenced to do my time under the critical care of the same hygienist and she was, to put it mildly, a nag. As she carved and hacked away she would go on and on belittling me about all of the problems I had with my teeth and telling me everything she thought I needed to be doing. More than once I wanted to scream at her, “Would you just shut up and do your job!” (I know, not the most sanctified response) but I never did. Why? Well, first of all it is really hard to talk when someone has a pitchfork, chisel, fire hose and Shop-Vac stuck in your mouth all at the same time. Additionally, I knew I was in a rather compromised position and I thought it might not be the best time to start an argument.
Fast forward, would you, with me to another time I was in a different dentist’s chair. As they hygienist was completing her work she commented that she noticed I seemed to be having some difficulties with my gums and teeth. I braced myself for the onslaught I was sure was about to start. It never came. Instead, she told me that she struggled with the same problem and it wasn’t until she had found a particular toothbrush was she able to get things under control. Then she stepped out of the room and came back with the regular bag of dental parting gifts, but she also had a coupon she had found for the particular brush and offered that to me as well, if I was interested.
Do you know what I did that day? I immediately left the dentist’s office, drove across the street to Target, and bought the toothbrush that was suggested, even though I already had a nice shiny new one I had just gotten for free from the dentist.
Why did I behave this way? It was the difference between hearing good news and good advice. The first office gave me a lot of good advice. Everything thing that I was told were things that I should have been doing. But I didn’t really care to hear it.
The second office told me good news. I was told of a past decision made in her life that had resulted in a positive changed future. Good news is something I wanted to hear. Good news was something I wanted to emulate in hopes of having the same experience.
As Christ-followers, one single act may terrify us more than any other. That is the act of sharing our faith with another, or as we call it “personal evangelism.” I believe what makes it difficult is that too often we are tempted to tell people good advice rather than good news. Good advice says to a person, “You should live a different life.” Good news says, let me tell you about something that changed in my past that has brought a new future for me.
Good advice would say to a blind person “See!” Good news says, “I once was blind but then a man named Jesus rubbed mud in my eyes and told me to wash in the pool of Siloam and now I see” (John 9). Good advice says, “Stop cheating your own people out of their money and pay back what you have stolen.” Good news says, “I once was sitting high in a tree, just because I wanted to see this man Jesus I had heard about. As he came closer he stopped at the base of my sycamore tree and said he wanted to come over to my house. Did you hear that? Me, a tax collector, a traitor to my own people, was going to have Jesus in my home. That day as I shared a meal with Jesus I felt love and acceptance like I have never felt before. I found hope for a new future. I also knew then that I could not continue to live the way I had been living, so I immediately gave half of my possessions to the poor and to those people I had cheated I paid them back four times. My weren’t they surprised” (Luke 19). No one wants to hear good advice. Good news can change a person’s whole life trajectory.
What about you? Have you been tempted to share good advice rather than good news? There is no greater news in all of the world than the news of what Jesus did and does in human hearts? What’s your story of good news?
Blessings,
Pastor Stephen