INNOCULATIONS
In early March, I'm taking a vision trip to Haiti. Our Missions Pastor and I will travel there for several days and see what Mission of Hope, Haiti is doing and if it's something God is calling us to join in. One of the things you have to do before you travel to such an under-developed country as Haiti is acquire all the proper inoculations. That's shots for the less literate.
Interesting how most inoculations work. They take the virus or bacteria that they want to protect you against...a small amount, sometimes live, sometimes dead...and shoot it into your bloodstream. Then your body goes to work and your own immune system builds up the necessary antibodies to fight off what it's been tricked into thinking you have contracted. Rather than the whole disease or the live disease, you get just enough to fool your body into thinking, "I've had this before, no problem". Then when you're exposed to the real thing, your body just kind of goes, "Yeah, I've seen this before. No, thanks". It's the big Fake Out. And it works. (At least, I'm certainly hoping it works)
For disease control, I think inoculations are great. We're surrounded by people who have been inoculated to a number of things. One of them is not so good, however. Every day, we encounter hundreds of people all around us who have been inoculated to the gospel. They've been introduced to just a tiny portion of the truth of the gospel, or in many cases, they've been injected with something that sounds similar to the gospel, but is dead and sterile and useless, only to see them build up a resistance to the real thing.
For many, their resistance has come from being surrounded by too many "self-professed Christians". What these people call Christianity is far from the real deal. It's more of a dead virus than the living Good News. It mainly comes in judgements, bigotry, condescension and rule-keeping. Far from the living, life-changing grace of God. But, that's what they've heard and that's what they've see...Just enough to build up a resistance and to know whatever this thing is, they don't want to catch.
What's the answer? They have got to hear the real Good News above all the fake stuff. They must be exposed to the real love of God so strongly that it overwhelms and overrides their inoculations. They desperately need to "catch it". The real thing. Not the dead virus...the Living Word. Please, before you speak, rather than simply railing against the newest bad thing that pushes your personal buttons, stop, and see beyond what you don't like to what God loves and share God's love and God's hope to a loveless, hopeless world.
Interesting how most inoculations work. They take the virus or bacteria that they want to protect you against...a small amount, sometimes live, sometimes dead...and shoot it into your bloodstream. Then your body goes to work and your own immune system builds up the necessary antibodies to fight off what it's been tricked into thinking you have contracted. Rather than the whole disease or the live disease, you get just enough to fool your body into thinking, "I've had this before, no problem". Then when you're exposed to the real thing, your body just kind of goes, "Yeah, I've seen this before. No, thanks". It's the big Fake Out. And it works. (At least, I'm certainly hoping it works)
For disease control, I think inoculations are great. We're surrounded by people who have been inoculated to a number of things. One of them is not so good, however. Every day, we encounter hundreds of people all around us who have been inoculated to the gospel. They've been introduced to just a tiny portion of the truth of the gospel, or in many cases, they've been injected with something that sounds similar to the gospel, but is dead and sterile and useless, only to see them build up a resistance to the real thing.
For many, their resistance has come from being surrounded by too many "self-professed Christians". What these people call Christianity is far from the real deal. It's more of a dead virus than the living Good News. It mainly comes in judgements, bigotry, condescension and rule-keeping. Far from the living, life-changing grace of God. But, that's what they've heard and that's what they've see...Just enough to build up a resistance and to know whatever this thing is, they don't want to catch.
What's the answer? They have got to hear the real Good News above all the fake stuff. They must be exposed to the real love of God so strongly that it overwhelms and overrides their inoculations. They desperately need to "catch it". The real thing. Not the dead virus...the Living Word. Please, before you speak, rather than simply railing against the newest bad thing that pushes your personal buttons, stop, and see beyond what you don't like to what God loves and share God's love and God's hope to a loveless, hopeless world.
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