Pam and I love spending time with our grandkids. There is nothing better than getting on the floor to play with them or cuddling up to read a story. We treasure the times they come to our house and leave behind fingerprints on the windows or diapers in the trash as evidence of our time together. Just recently, though, a visit from our granddaughter resulted in a different sort of reminder: a virus. Though we tried to keep the germs contained, a stomach bug traveled through the family like a row of falling dominoes. It wasn’t the aftermath we had hoped would follow the weekend, but I suppose that life-to-life encounters always leave an impression!
This reminded me of a quote from C.S. Lewis in which he compares the spreading life of Christ to a “good infection.”
[Jesus] came to this world and became a man in order to spread to other men the kind of life He has—by what I call “good infection.” Every Christian is to become a little Christ. The whole purpose of becoming a Christian is simply nothing else.
As “little Christs” we share the life of Christ as we from His teaching and bring others along into a life empowered by His presence and sustained by His Word and His love. Jesus modeled this by spending regular time with a handful of people, both individually and in groups, imparting and modeling biblical lessons on living life to its fullest. By His example, we know that true discipleship is experienced through life-to-life encounters.
Some friends we are mentoring applied this principle by putting a picnic table on their driveway so they could eat dinner outside and intentionally run into their neighbors more often. Their hospitality was contagious and soon other neighbors were joining them—putting out basketball hoops, lingering in front yards, even coordinating Friday Pizza Nights. The neighborhood is growing into a vibrant, loving community and some are growing in their relationship with Jesus.
Spreading the “good infection” of Christ doesn’t have to be complicated. We are compelled by a passion for spiritual generations that reach the nations of the world, but this vision begins right where we are at in life. It starts with a simple decision to intentionally “do life” with those God has put into our lives, all for the glory of God.
Read more on Doug’s blog at makingwaves.navigators.org
Just a little hind for virtue and bacteria control. Put a cut in half red onion in a couple rooms, prominently, and they will collect those viruses and bacteria. Proven to work. Blessings to you all.