[Steve Myers] Just the other day, I had to go to the dentist. And it had been a while since I'd been there. So they told me I needed to have new x-rays done, they do these bite wings, perhaps you've done that at the dentist before, you bite down on these things. Because it wasn't good enough just to take a look at the outside of what my mouth was doing. They wanted to see what was going on, on the inside below the gum line. So they do these x-rays. And as I got to thinking about that, certainly, we need to look deeper than just what's on the outside. I got to thinking about, you know, my mouth in general. And it seems when you go to the dentist, you're kind of forced to think that way for a while, especially as, you know, they do the little procedures and clean your teeth and all those types of things.

I couldn't help but think of the section of Scripture that deals a lot with your mouth. And it's over in the book of James. And in James 3:2 or so, it talks about your tongue, and of course they even say you're supposed to brush your tongue in order to have a healthy mouth. But as I thought about those x-rays, and my mouth in general, James 3 was a section that comes to mind. Because it says pretty clearly here that it says, "We all stumble in many ways, if anyone does not stumble in word, he's a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body."

And I got to think about that x-ray and talk at all those things. You can't help but see that, wow, if you wanna deeper look into who you are, what do you talk about? What comes out of your mouth? We know the Bible also says, "Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks." And James goes into quite a long exposition on the things that we say, which is really a reflection of what we're thinking. And like those bite wing x-rays that were taken, they could see what was beneath the surface.

You wanna good idea of what you're thinking, what your attitude is? Listen to yourself. What comes out of your mouth? It's such an important concept that God says we have to be recognizing those very things, because it's a reflection of something much deeper.

So I think what we need to do then, is really make it our goal to recognize not just what's coming out, but what's deeper on the inside. And in fact, when we look at the Psalms, it tells us at least a strategy that we can use to overcome. We can look at Psalm all the way back in Psalm 141. Psalm 141:3 gives us a proactive approach to this whole thing. It's time for a checkup. And so do that checkup. Go before God and do what Psalm 141:3 says, it says, "Set a guard O, Lord over my mouth." So here's something we can do. We can pray to God. We can ask Him to guide us and lead us, submit our lives to Him, submit to the Holy Spirit and He will certainly do this. It says "Keep watch over the door of my lips." Because that is a reflection of who we are.

So when you brush your teeth, the next time, think of this, think of what's beyond, beyond just the outside of your teeth, your tongue, what's going on inside and pray and ask God to help you to set a watch and overcome all of those things that have a tendency to come out of us that aren't good. Let's turn to God, look to Him and ask Him to guide us in all we say and think.

That's BT Daily. We'll see you next time.