"Virus" has become an almost entirely negative term. Viruses kill, destroy, and steal life. But what if a virus could enhance life? Imagine for a moment that there was a virus we wanted to catch. A disease that would heal, transform, and strengthen. This virus would be something that could only be passed if you came into contact with an infected individual or colony. The more aggressive the infection was in the individual you encountered, the more likely you would be to catch it yourself. Now imagine the possibility of an outbreak: everywhere you went, there was the chance of transmitting the virus. Aggressively infected individuals were in public places displaying symptoms of their condition. Over time, entire communities would have the virus within them, affecting them, transforming them one cell at a time. Such a scenario may be too hard for you to enjoy picturing, but in many ways, it's what I believe the church is called to be: a colony of those aggressively infected by the person of Jesus Christ who go out into the world to infect others. Over the years, we in the north american church have done a tremendous job of safely containing something that is meant to be wildly contagious. We keep it to ourselves, we allow symptoms to arise only at certain times and locals, and we do little to allow it to deepen its impact on our lives. God's intention is for the church to be a movement of faith, hope, and love that spreads across the earth. And while there is a frantic search for such things among the masses, Christians can't seem to allow the infection they've caught by grace to do what it does best: Multiply and transform. The key I believe is first creating an environment where the person of Jesus Christ is able to thrive within it's hosts, our lives. We then become so overwhelmingly inundated and overcome throughout our being by Jesus Christ that wherever we go, He cannot be withheld. This happens through authentic practice of His presence and sharing life with others who carry Him in themselves. If Christ's Spirit is in its very essence contagious, what is keeping your communities from being infected and changed for the Kingdom of God? Are you managing the power of the Almighty in your life through religion, self-will, or sin?
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That will preach.
ReplyDeleteRay, Welcome back. I missed your posts.
Your musings remind me of the parable in which the KoG is likened to yeast which infects the three measures of flour.
It is interesting in a culture that is very focused on killing the infection and viruses of the world, your question is most prophetic - what if there was a virus we wanted to catch?