Contagious love

I'm going to take this opportunity to share just an image that came into my head today, potentially from god but I'll let you make you're own minds up on that one.

I had the image in my head of a virus. Now this image is one of a standard viral diagram found in any microbiology textbook, with a protein capsule, a tail and tail fibres and genetic material stored in the head. Now this virus is working its way through a human body and the first thing I notice is how this virus is all consuming. Take an illness for example, let's say influenza. The immune response to it affects the entire body, you may get a sore throat, blocked sinuses, rhinitis. On top of that it can affect homeostasis and make the infected burn up with fever, it can cause emesis and whilst you have it in your system, you can't help it but it has an affect on you.

Now the next point I notice is that you have a reaction to it, internally this reaction is involuntary, with your immune system making hundreds and thousands of antibodies, externally we change our behaviour by going out and buying painkillers, tissues, vitamins, cold and flu relief tablets etc.

Finally, the last point I notice is that if the virus in question is going to make any kind of impact on a larger scale, then it needs to spread, this is reliant on vectors, whether that be through particles found in mucus, residues left on surfaces, say a stair banister, a door handle, or maybe it spreads through droplets in the air, leftover from a sneeze, or through physical contact from another person, it's survival is reliant on this.

Now I'm not insinuating here that God is a virus and that being a Christian is like been ill. But let's just imagine for a second here that we replace the imagined virus and replaced it with God's love and the good news of Jesus and we take each of my above points again. When we first hear the message of God's good news, it is all consuming and whether we like it or not, it has a reaction on us, whether this be an acceptance of Jesus as saviour, a longing to know more, or even outright protest, it evokes a response, kind of like an immune response.
Secondly this response leads to a change in behaviour. Maybe in voluntarily we'll be thinking about it, maybe we're wanting to know more, or potentially trying to evaluate its validity. Maybe we're disputing it, rubbishing it in our heads, however this is still a response and these first two points are representative of an individual response.

Now onto my third point, arguably the main one. Gods good news isn't going to spread without a vector. To those who aren't 'infected', this can't happen without a vector, demonstrating that people aren't going to turn to God without hearing about his good news, if no one shares it with them. Therefore it brings to me the image of us acting as 'vectors' to enable Gods love to reach more people, and begin to have a major societal impact.

Just a few thoughts to ponder on. Trust it to be on something that I'd understand so vividly!!

XOX