Contagion

 Almost a year ago, I woke up with the heavy feeling of what most of us were going through at that time. There was the burden of having to go about the day with the unusually highlighted reality of not knowing what the future holds. Of course, I am talking about the Coronavirus (Covid-19) and how, even as I write this today, we still don't know how this ends.

That morning in May, I had been particularly concerned about the details of being asymptomatic. No, I didn't get the disease, but it hasn't stopped me from thinking what if I'm just asymptomatic. I had been thinking about what symptoms an asymptomatic would have to actually know they had the disease. How do you know if you're already contagious? Is it only through testing? Because for other diseases, at least you know you won't be passing on the disease after a certain time or a certain stage of the disease. When do you know you don't have it anymore? How do you know if you were part of the trail if, for example, you passed on the disease to someone who also was asymptomatic and he passed it on to someone who also became asymptomatic and so on until there was one who finally showed symptoms? By that time, does your disease disappear? Is there a time limit to you being asymptomatic, to you being contagious? 

That train of thought kept chugging around in my head that morning. What could we do if we were asymptomatic but we were already passing on the disease? Then I wondered, what if after passing on the disease, you will no longer have it? Was there a disease like that in the past? (Obviously, I did not search for an answer, so let me know if there is such a thing.) Once a person has it, he or she can pass it on just to get rid of it? If that were the case, especially now with Covid-19, maybe we can protect those who are old or immunocompromised. Maybe they can pass it on to someone healthier, who has a higher chance of survival. 

Let's take that a step further, if the disease is "passable," maybe we can all pass it on to someone from our area and each area "representative" can pass it on to a designated person until only one person has the disease. That person most likely will be someone who's very healthy, who can withstand all that passed on disease (does it get worse or intensify the more viruses a person has?), or who has accepted his fate that he will die for the safety of the rest of humanity. 

Then I remembered. Yes, there was a disease like this. This is familiar. My thoughts were not original. This already happened. 

A couple thousand years ago, there was a disease with a 100% mortality rate. Everyone who had it would die. They did what was expected of them in that case. There were measures in place. There were temporary precautions, like what we have now, wearing masks and washing hands. There were steps to be followed for temporary relief. But there was no cure yet. People waited for it and people died waiting. Until eventually, someone did what I just described in the previous paragraph. Someone decided to take all of that disease on himself so the rest of the world didn't have to suffer. So he did. He died because of it. And the rest of the world no longer needed to go through that pain.

His name is Jesus.

The disease is sin.

We're all supposed to die because of sin. It's a disease of humanity, something we cannot escape, and so are the consequences. "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). Everyone who sins will die; 100% mortality rate. 

And we did our best. Sure. We tried to be good. We tried to not sin, but just like how a virus is so tiny yet if you get it you suffer, we got sin. We sinned. We have it. And worse, sometimes we even pass it on. Sinning is contagious. Meaning more will die because of it. And at some point, we couldn't do anything to stop it.

But God could. And He did. He sent the perfect sacrifice, the only person who could carry the burden of all that sin, the weight of the whole world and its future. Jesus. And He took that sin and carried it to the cross where He died in our place. Read that again: He died in our place. We were the ones supposed to suffer. We were the ones supposed to die because of that disease. But He took it to the grave. He took our place so we can live.

It's a big thing to think about. Someone, someone we don't even know, decided to take the ultimate consequence of our faults. And here's the bigger thing: He did it because He loves us. No bouquet of roses, no frequency of date nights, no amount of empty promises can ever compare to what He, Jesus, has done. He died so we wouldn't have to die, because He loves us. Let that sink in for a bit. Just for a bit because it doesn't end there.

He lived. He lives.

Remember the condition I proposed for the designated sacrifice of the disease? Someone who was so healthy he would survive or someone who accepted the fact that he would die. Well, Jesus was both. He died. Yes. But then He lived. He rose from the grave, leaving that dreaded sin disease behind. No longer carrying that weight, He calls us to live too. To stop being so burdened with the not-enoughness of this world. To stop putting ourselves in unnecessary pain, unnecessary suffering because of unnecessary actions. He calls us to live the way our lives were planned, long before we even knew about Him, long before we even knew about our disease. And isn't that what we should be doing? To be so thankful that we offer our own lives to His will? Because let's face it, our lives, our free lives, free from the consequence of sin, was bought at a high cost. His life.

If we are “out of our mind,” as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. (2 Corinthians 5:13-15)

So there. This life that we have was already bought. We live for Him. And though we don't understand, though all the pain and suffering and uncertainty of the future doesn't make sense, we know we're ultimately safe. If the one who bought us has the power to raise the dead, has the power to create everything beautiful, has the power to overcome anything, we can rest assured that our future is secure. And if you think that if this God has so much power, He can just end this pandemic or whatever bad thing we are going through, yes. Yes, He can. But who are we to say when or what He should do.

None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written:

“What no eye has seen,

    what no ear has heard,

and what no human mind has conceived”—

    the things God has prepared for those who love him—

these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. (1 Corinthians 2:8-10)

If you're still reading, praise God for you. Don't give up hope. Don't give up faith. I know times are hard. I cannot imagine what you're going through. But I know there is a great God who loves you and who wants to take care of you. Get to know Him. Find comfort in Him. Find answers in Him.

Personal Note: I've wanted to write this way back in May 2020. That one morning weighed so heavy in my heart that I couldn't sit down and write. I wanted to write it before I forget, but I also couldn't seem to find the will to write. I know it's confusing. I wanted to write it but didn't want to write. But I couldn't forget. So if you've been blessed by any of the words up there, praise God. And if you want to learn more about this God who has traded His own Son for us out of love, send me a message. Or comment below. Or find someone you can talk to. There has never been or will ever be a day like today. No other time when the urgency of your longing to know God is more relevant than right now. We don't want to think about it, but tomorrow may be too late.