Vaccinated!

So I finally went for my long overdue health screening the other day. I've gotten to the age where every year I kind of expect that there'll be some anomaly or other! So thank God this time everything was fine. Must be all the circuit breaker home workouts :D

One interesting thing though - the doctor pointed out that some antibody levels were dropping, so I should go for booster vaccinations. This was a bit surprising to me, since I knew I had gotten vaccinated just a few years ago. I am generally not gooey about injections, so I'll probably get around to getting those booster shots soon.

This got me thinking. The only reason why I was even considering getting booster shots was because someone had pointed out that what I thought I had (immunity), I actually didn't have. If we think we have something, naturally we don't go looking for it. We're only motivated to go looking for something we realise we don't have. 

This is something I've recently re-encountered at work too. If we think we've got all our customers locked up, then we won't go looking for them outside. If we think we're doing awesome work and headed for advancement, then we'll just keep doing what we're doing. 

But if we realise that our customers can walk away, then we'll go looking for them. If we realise that we're falling short, then we'll change what we're doing. One of the most important things a workplace leader needs to do is to honestly yet encouragingly communicate to our people - we don't have it, so go get it!

This is the so-called "burning platform" mentality - companies that fail to realise that they're on a burning platform won't keep moving and improving, until the floor is suddenly taken out from under them. Similarly, people who fail to realise that we need to keep upping our game, and are surprised at not getting promoted, will certainly get surprised when the entire job suddenly disappears. Sometimes these things will happen anyway, despite our best efforts, but complacency certainly doesn't help.

Which brings me to the flip side of vaccinations. I'm no doctor, but in lay terms, vaccinations essentially work by introducing a mild form of the disease (e.g. tiny amounts of a virus, or a de-activated or milder form of the virus) into our bodies. This causes our bodies to produce antibodies to fight that disease, which creates immunity against the actual full blown disease. So vaccinations are great! Probably one of the most important inventions of the last couple of centuries.

But there's an important spiritual lesson we can take from how vaccinations work too.

It's been said that Western missionaries returning to their home countries, after decades of work in Africa and Asia, found that the West itself needed to be evangelised. But something odd had happened. The West had become a post-Christian environment. People had been born in Christian families, grown up going to Sunday School, and churches were everywhere. And they observed that many people had absorbed just enough Christianity, that they were inoculated against the real thing.

Here were people who thought:

- I was born in a Christian home and tradition - therefore I am a Christian.

- I respond "Christian" in response to government surveys and forms - therefore I am a Christian.

- I go to church at Christmas and Good Friday, or maybe even most Sundays - therefore I am a Christian.

But there was little evidence of the love and joy and peace of Christ. They looked and behaved no different from anyone else, in fact, often worse. These little bits of Christianity had inoculated them against actual Christianity.

Before we pat ourselves on the back and tell ourselves "thank God, I'm not like that!", consider Jesus' words in Luke 18:10-14:

Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other people - robbers, evildoers, adulterers - or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.' 

But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'

I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God.

Do we think:

- I read the Bible - therefore I am close to God

- I am in a Whatsapp cell group chatgroup - therefore I am in a cell

- I receive devotionals and go to church on Sunday - therefore I am a church member

- I pray when I'm in trouble - therefore I am a believer

All these things - reading the Bible, being in a Whatsapp cell group chatgroup, receiving devotionals, going to church and praying - they're really important. But we risk self-deception when we have bits of these things in our lives, and think we have the real thing.

As cell leaders, my wife and I want to be popular and liked by our members. Who doesn't? But we are compelled not only to love and encourage, but also to speak truth. One of the worst things we could do as leaders is to inoculate our members with just enough Christianity to immunise them against the real thing.

If we think we are close to God because we read the Bible, but really only have head knowledge, then we'll never go looking to apply the Word in real life. Worse, when the opportunity arises to apply the Word, we won't recognise it, because we think we've already got it.

If we think we are in a cell, but really are only in a chatgroup, then we'll never go looking for a meaningful cell life. Worse, when the opportunity arises to be part of a joyful and encouraging cell life, we'll say no thanks, because we think we've already got it.

If we think we are members of church because we happen to turn up once a week, then we'll never go looking for meaningful church life. Worse, when the opportunity arises to do great work for God in our churches and communities and neighbourhoods, we'll say no need, because we think we've already got it.

If we think we are believers because we pray when we're in trouble, then we'll never go looking for a God who isn't merely an emergency life preserver, but actually loves to swim alongside us! Worse, when God stands at the door and knocks, we won't open the door, because we think He's already inside.

For these reasons, the wife and I will sometimes do or say things to challenge the hearer, that will feel like discipline. Sometimes we'll get it wrong - either being too oblique, or being too blunt. We try to do so with as much love and encouragement as possible, especially because we know that we ourselves fall short all the time - but not at the risk of sugarcoating or perpetuating inoculation against God. But, better to know that we're not really in a cell, not really in a church, not really close to God, than to think we are, and then never go looking for it.

Why's all this so important for us to share? Because the life of being part of His people and community, close to God and seeing His perfect will unfold for us, is really the most joyful, peaceful and enduringly fruitful life we could have. There's really nothing like it in all the universe!

I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10