H1N5, H1N1, H1324780N17324817023481270. It seems like there's a new 'big' flu to fear every year! I'm not trying to make light of a serious situation--we should be 'smart' and take reasonable precautions when these bugs float around (washing hands, not kissing pigs, etc). But one thing we believers should not be doing is being full of fear. Why? Because times of general panic are times we believers should be standing out as a people of calmness and trust in God. This has been a very common Christian response to crises and horrors throughout time. Consider a great plague that struck the Roman Empire in the 3rd century: Christians “showed unbounded love and loyalty, never sparing themselves and thinking only of one another. Heedless of danger, they took charge of the sick, attending to their every need and ministering to them in Christ, and with them departed this life serenely happy; for they were infected by others with the disease, drawing on themselves the sickness of their neighbors and cheerfully accepting their pains.” More recently, many believers stayed in Nazi Germany and helped shield Jews who would otherwise have been executed, risking certain death themselves. We have a heritage of not running when things get tough, unless you want to call running to God 'running.' Of course, Jesus is our most high model in this way of living. One choice he had was to cut and run when the threat of crucifixion was upon him. But he stayed in order to bless the lives of others. Hopefully none of us will ever be faced with so tough a decision, but in the face of crises, epidemics, etc., what is going to be our response as believers? Cut and run? Or stick in out and serve, being Jesus' hands and feet?
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