Contagious?

 

Three years ago a contagion swept the globe, rapidly changing life as we knew it. The virus was easily transmitted and infected millions of people within a few weeks time, resulting in death, suffering, and economic loss. A tiny virus literally brought the world to a pause as leaders attempted to contain it and limit the spread, not very successfully as it turns out. This generation will always remember COVID masks, restrictions, and closures, won’t we?

2000 years ago the Gospel of Christ swept across the Roman Empire, like a virus, but positively changing the world, bringing life, not death. Something wonderful happened to people who believed the good news about Jesus. Peter describes it this way: "All honor to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for it is by his boundless mercy that God has given us the privilege of being born again. Now we live with a wonderful expectation because Jesus Christ rose again from the dead. For God has reserved a priceless inheritance for his children. It is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay." (1 Peter 1:3-4, NLT)   "You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him, you trust him; and even now you are happy with a glorious, inexpressible joy." (1 Peter 1:8, NLT)

The Holy Spirit entered the hearts and minds of those who believed and they were transformed. It was not just an ‘idea’ that caught on, it was a new way of understanding the purpose of life. Christians cared for orphans and widows. They built a new community that ignored old social boundaries. Their faith was immediate, not just one for the ‘bye and bye.’ Their new way of living was witnessed by others who were moved. 

Those Christians were contagious and faith spread rapidly, completely changing the world in about 2 centuries. That fact is even more amazing when we think that they had no printing presses, no rapid means of travel, no mass media. In a positive way, Christianity was ‘viral,’ unstoppable.  In a world of death and hopelessness, the Gospel of Christ Jesus brought salvation, light, and life!  With little regard for cost or consequence, they were public about their love of Jesus, and His message was irresistible for millions.

Is your faith contagious?

In Acts we learn Who makes us infectious. It is not a sparkling personality, personal charisma, or even great achievement. It is not wealth or grand displays of power. Jesus promised - "I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world at large cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you do, because he lives with you now and later will be in you." (John 14:16-17, NLT)   

He told those first disciples to wait in Jerusalem after His return to Heaven and Someone would ‘infect’ them, making them contagious in the world.  "When the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive power and will tell people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8, NLT)  Ordinary men and women from a backwater province of the Roman Empire were filled with the Spirit, inspired and changed. They began to live differently, spreading a message of salvation and hope.

Paul says "For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake." (2 Corinthians 4:5, NIV)  When there is a demonstrable difference in us because of the Spirit, we become like those first Christians, contagious with an irresistible message of life and hope.

The word from the Word encourages me, and hopefully, you, too. "But this precious treasure—this light and power that now shine within us—is held in perishable containers, that is, in our weak bodies. So everyone can see that our glorious power is from God and is not our own." (2 Corinthians 4:7, NLT) Christ is me, an ordinary person, can change my world. What a thought.

(Video of this blog at this link)

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Breathe On Me Breath Of God

Breathe on me breath of God
Fill me with life anew
That I may love what Thou dost love
And do what Thou wouldst do

Breathe on me breath of God
Until my heart is pure
Until with Thee I will one will
To do and to endure

 

Breathe on me breath of God
Till I am wholly Thine
Till all this earthly part of me
Glows with Thy fire divine

 

Breathe on me breath of God
So shall I never die
But live with Thee the perfect life
Of Thine eternity

Edwin Hatch | Robert Jackson

• © Words: Public Domain