Germs

Submit yourselves then, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. James 4:7

If you know one of the people with whom you come in daily contact is ill do you avoid them? I don’t mean cancer ill or chronically non-contagious ill. I mean put you in bed for a week highly infectious ill. Do you avoid them? Or at least take more precautions after coming in contact with them? I do which is actually harder than it may sound. Keep in mind, I work with small children a.k.a. germ mobiles. These children put their fingers in places where fingers should just never go and they love dirt. Further they love to share, especially their germs. We haven’t quite achieved the cover your nose and mouth goal nor have we truly mastered that pesky hand washing skill. I’m not really a germaphobe but I feel like one when I’m in that room. I love my kiddos and there is no way I’m getting from one end of the day to the other without touching or being touched not to mention heads bent together to read books or do a simple task. Their germs far too often become my germs. I want to somehow avoid the germs but not the carriers.

That was the thought that ran through my mind the other day when my pastor made an analogy that compared Satan to a virus. He said that we should avoid contact with people who carry a demonic spirit inside of them. Now you and I might think that no one would want to carry that spirit but we would be wrong. Some people enjoy their negativity, viciousness etc. and they are to be avoided. I thought it was a great analogy because as much as I love my little ones when one of them is really sick, and yes they come to school anyway, the whole face wiping, hand washing, lotion applying, antibacterial gel use scenario, takes on comical as well as epic proportions. I avoid those all too obvious germs. Then I get flattened by the one I didn’t see coming.

It would be great if Satan would announce himself when he entered a room, situation or person. We could then make sure to avoid said room, situation or person but that isn’t how it works. Like the silent, symptom free germ that lurks in the noses and mouths of my angels there is a subtle but sinister spirit that lurks in some people.

We see Nancy Negative coming. We know it is in our best interest to avoid her and her nay saying ways. Maybe we’ve been burned once or twice when we’ve attempted to shine our little light into her dark day only to have her squelch our little light with her little pessimistic attitude. Then we learn and we make a large detour around her after that. The problem isn’t the obvious. It is the concealed.
It may well show up in the form of the good time Charlie, full of temptation, deception and pitfalls. Or it may slither in on the whines of the put upon. Poor pitiful Pearl who does so much for other people that she has no time for herself. Oh poor Pearl she is such a giver. Meanwhile she’s giving you not only a headache but a heart full of resentment and sin as you realize that in picking up her pieces to be helpful you’ve now taken on her put upon attitude.

These are most likely not the demonic spirits my pastor had in mind. I’m fairly sure he was talking about something much bigger, much darker and much more insidious. Still his analogy worked for me. I spend a lot of time avoiding actual germs but what about the germs of sin? What about the random piece of gossip or the nasty remark do I avoid those? Do I seek the opportunity to be helpful or jump at the chance to be lazy?

I am fairly diligent when it comes to avoiding germs and given my not so stellar immune system and my proximity to germs I do pretty well. I need to employ the same tactics to avoid the demons and those who willing house them. Certainly I want my light, that comes from the Holy Spirit inside of me to shine into the darkness of those infected people but maybe it has to be kin to the air hugs and kisses my students get when they bring their germs to school. I certainly want the love of God to rain on them through me but I want to stay high and dry away from whatever reigns in them.

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