The Sugar-Coated Wiggles

By Donna McCrary –

Since when is “wiggle” a politically correct word? Apparently I missed the mom memo from my children’s dentist. Don’t get me wrong “tooth extraction” is not exactly the phrase I am advocating. However, when I was a child you “pulled” your teeth. We used this phrase because that is what you did. I don’t remember tooth-pulling being a traumatic event in my childhood. Tooth-pulling was often a family affair filled with nagging siblings, plier-holding grandmothers, and creative ways to incorporate tools, dental floss, and slamming doors. In fact, my sweet, dainty, 100-pound grandmother would often jokingly grab the pliers and try to coerce me into letting her “yank” the dangling tooth.

As I left the dentist office, part of me was laughing but a deeper part of me was saddened. Are we really at point in society where sugar coating the truth is the standard? When my child asked point blank, “Will it hurt? Do I have to get a shot?” The truth was hidden somewhere in the words, “Don’t worry we will make you as comfortable as possible. You won’t feel much more than a little wiggle!” Don’t get me wrong I appreciate the staff offering comfort to my daughter, but how damaging is the truth expressed as truth?

With the festivities of fall approaching, how are we sugarcoating the truth? The truth – hell is real. The truth – Satan, also named the Devil, Lucifer and the Father of Lies, is real. The truth – Satan is not running around dressed in red tights, sparkling horns and carrying a pitch fork. This is the sugar coated version and to some it tastes better. It is hard to take seriously red tights and plastic pitch forks. The truth – “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8 NIV). The truth – hell is a place of torment (Luke 16:23 NIV). The truth – All who do evil and are separated from Jesus will be thrown “into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13:41-42 NIV).

Let’s stop sugar coating the truth. Satan and Hell are real! All those who do not accept the saving grace of Jesus Christ will experience hell –an eternity of torment and pain. Not wiggles!

PRAYER: Father, help me see, hear and share Your truth with boldness. Open my eyes to the ways I sugar-coat the reality of hell. Instill in me a deep desire to take a stand for Your Word and share Your son Jesus Christ to those around me with diligence and passion so their eternal reality is heaven.

BIBLE VERSE: “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor death, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:37-39 NIV).