He 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.”
C.S. Lewis
When I became a Christian, I had a vision of my hair in a ponytail, no makeup, and wiping the sweat from my brow as a missionary in Africa. I wanted my life to matter. I wanted adventure. I wanted to share the faith I found (or should I say “found me”) with everyone. I thought being a missionary would be the most likely way to accomplish my life purpose.
However, I became a Christian in the middle of divorcing my husband and found that Christ satisfied me in a way I had never thought possible. I was determined to get a twin bed and never get married again (long story and even longer when I tell it~Winne the Pooh). I knew I had made a mistake when I got married; now I was free from him and ready to take on the world for God.
Well…not exactly how that worked out for me. It was much less romantic and very down to earth. Three strikes and I thought I was out.
- God had me do the one thing I absolutely did not want to do; go back to my husband (1 Corinthians 7:11)..
- He had me become my next greatest fear; a mother.
- He finished me off by having me stay home with littles and rarely leave the house.
Wait a minute! I thought I was going to change the world for God by being in full time ministry. I was going to be a missionary. Why would God waste my desire and talent by putting me far away from any type of ministry?
He didn’t. He gave me exactly what my heart desired and what I was built for in every way (they don’t call me Mama Broome for nothing). It simply took me a while to see it. I hope this simple blog opens your eyes to the truth right in front of you; you (yes you) are in full time ministry. God wants to make you a super-spreader of His good infection.
When we are born again, we become new creations.
This is a difficult concept to explain but I will try with a simple illustration. Picture a fire hydrant. In my hometown, all the fire hydrants were painted to look like people when I was a little girl.
I imagine us as fire hydrants. When we are born again, nothing about us changes from the outside. From the inside, everything is different. A fire hydrant is nothing but a vessel. It carries something valuable when a fire is near; water. When you unscrew the huge lid on its belly, out gushes unlimited amounts of water. It’s amazing to see what power flows out from that little thing.
Before we were saved, I think of us as a fire hydrant hooked up to a wellspring of sewage. The fire hydrant looks exactly the same, no matter what’s in it, until the lid is removed. At that point, it’s obvious whether it’s life-giving water or a deadly flow of sewage.
“Their talk is foul, like the stench from an open grave. Their tongues are filled with lies. Snake venom drips from their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
Romans 3:13-14
Romans 3 (you should read it) is a huge slice of humble pie for all of us.
It tells us the truth about every human on the planet. Sewage is probably better than what’s inside of us. We perfume it and try to chew religious gum to hide the stench, but our mouths and our bellies are full of death and destruction; hooked up to hell itself.
And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself.
James 3:6
When we come to Christ, our fire hydrant is cleaned out, moved to a new location, and hooked up to Living Water that comes from the throne of God.
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.
Revelation 22:1
The miracle of being born again is more amazing to me 33 years later than the day it happened. We get a true divine do-over. Now that we belong to God, He wants to be able to take the glory of His Living Water (the Holy Spirit) and let it flow to everyone we come in contact with every single day. Through us, God has a way to bring heaven to earth.
“The one believing in Me, as the Scripture has said: ‘Out of his belly will flow rivers of living water.'”
John 7:38
If we would only let Him, the Gospel would take over the world faster than the Corona Virus made it from Wuhan to encompass the globe. People would get THE good infection.
When I hear Christians say that they want a job where they are surrounded by other Christians, I know they don’t understand why they are here. We should beg God to place us in dark places so His beautiful Light can shine. The only thing needed to get rid of darkness is to bring light. Darkness is not a thing. It is only an absence of light.
“You are the light of the world….”
In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
Matthew 5:14a, 16
I know an atheist who recently came to Christ and it has been an explosive change. He is so eager to share Christ with the world that he talked with me about going into mission work weeks after his salvation. When he shared that he has to work most Sundays, I said, “Welcome to your mission field.” He works at a nationwide company with over 1,500 souls and chances are, most do not know God. I’m thinking he will either get fired or that company will have a massive revival. He’s a super-spreader.
The most powerful place (besides our homes) to do mission work is our jobs.
Many people that our lives touch on a daily basis will never enter a church building. Guess what God in His glorious wisdom wants to do? He wants to take the church to them, through us. The church is not a building. We are the church.
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?
2 Corinthians 3:16
Our bodies carry the Spirit of God. I want to type that out 50 times and have all of us read it over and over again. If that is true (and it is) what in the world would happen if we let God Almighty be His big Self in our little corner of the world? The ONLY reason any of us can’t maintain a free flowing stream of Living Water is our flesh. Our own pride and desires stop God from doing His thing through any of us that would let Him.
I worked at a Veterinary office years ago and I really am not that fond of animals. God gave me the job, so I was determined to let Him touch that office for His glory. That place became a little piece of heaven to me. I worked with a group of girls and a doctor that I grew to dearly love. It was high pressure, and at times I felt like I was working with sailors (the cussing was so great). I never was offended. I simply tried my best to bring calm and love to everyone there. One of them ended up giving her life to Jesus while I was there. I left that job many years ago. As I was teaching on a Wednesday night (years later), a lady came up to me and told me that the girl I led to Jesus was leading her daughter in a Bible study; good infection.
God never meant for Christians to avoid the culture.
He meant to fill us up to overflowing with Himself and share who He is with a lost and dying world. We think the lost people around us are enemies. They are not. They are the lost children that God wants to bring home. Every place we set our foot is a rescue mission for God. What if miserable Christians in a hostile work environment started to believe God and be a shining light instead of a long faced sour puss?
I’ll tell you what would happen. We would become super-spreaders (who knew we would all know what that means?).
When we arrive at work, everyday would be a super-spreader event.
Super-spreader event (definition)-
an occasion, where a gathering of people leads to an outbreak of infections, which may have arisen from just one infected attendee.
It only takes one and that one can be you!
