The Contagious Christian

How does a fire spread? What makes the flame pass from one thing to the next? The simple answer: heat. If you get something hot enough, it will usually burst into flame. Once the fire is started, it will spread to virtually anything it touches.

Christianity is like a fire. As long as the Gospel of Jesus Christ touches unbelievers, it will continue to spread throughout the world. The fire started in Israel with the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and it spread as His disciples took His story all over the world, telling everyone who would listen. This process has continued for 2000 years and it's still burning and spreading today.

So how can you spread the Gospel like a wildfire? Well, first of all, you need to be hot enough. How do you get hot? You need to be in the fire. The Bible describes God as a consuming fire (Exod. 24:17; Deut. 4:24; Heb. 12:29). He burns bright and hot; He shows us the truth and consumes our impurities. Apart from Him, we can do nothing. If we do not stay close to God, any flame we have will go out.

As Jesus tells us in John 15:4, "Remain in me and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me." You cannot effectively share the truth, love, and power of Jesus Christ if you do not remain in Him. You don't have what it takes by yourself; His flame needs to be in you and it needs to be fed every day. So the first step to being a contagious Christian is to have a saving faith in Jesus Christ that is actively growing every day.

Secondly, once you have that flame burning within you, you need to take it to others. This may sound simple, but it means that you have to get close enough for those around you to see the light and feel the heat inside you. Just because you sit next to someone every day in school does not mean that you are "close." In order to be close to someone, you have to know each other on a personal level. Usually this means being friends.Yes, I am implying that you become friends with people who are not Christians. Otherwise, they likely won't see the depth of your faith in God. If you keep people at a distance, the flame that God has sparked in you will not pass to them. You may be wondering, "Won't non-Christians have a bad influence on me?" It's certainly possible, but if you remain in Jesus, He will keep your paths straight and the evil in the world will not lead you astray.

As the song says, "This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine." If we are going to let our lights shine, we have to make sure they stay lit. We need to stay connected to God. And if we are going to pass our light on to others, we need to hold it close them. The world may not like our light, our flame may singe and burn, but they need it to be saved. Don't keep your light from them.