By Lori Boyd
We live in a highly “germ-conscious” country. I worry about my kids every day while they are in school, hoping they are routinely using the mini anti-bacterial gel I bought to keep in their backpacks. They’ve been educated on performing the “elbow cough” and are familiar with the words vaccination, infection, virus, contagious, and bacteria.
As a nurse, germs are certainly on the forefront of my mind every time I set foot in the hospital. There, I have access to alcohol foam for my hands, protective equipment for my head and body, and anti-bacterial soap with no shortage of sinks for washing. I also have the option of wiping down my shopping cart at the grocery store with the newly provided sanitizing wipes before actually making bare-hand contact and can find an available squirt bottle of hand-sanitizer just about everywhere I go.
People live in fear of illness and take great measures to prevent themselves and their children from acquiring infections…and I’m right there with them. My personal feeling is, if I can keep my kids from getting sick then I’m going to do whatever it takes!
Then I had one of those moments last week. One of those soul-searching moments when I become acutely aware of my humanity and the “What is my purpose here on the earth?” thought comes tearing through my mental list of things to do for the day. Although they can be uncomfortable at times, I try to embrace these moments as reminders to set not my heart on things of this world.
On this occasion, for some reason, my mind drifted to hand sanitizer. I began to consider the lengths that I go to ensure the physical health of my children and weighed that against the actions I take to ensure the spiritual health of my children. I make sure the anti-bacterial gel is accessible to them while they are at school, but what am I giving them to counter the attack on their hearts and minds as they are exposed to evil in the world?
I would like to make an “Anti-Bad-Material” motion! I move that we do some serious soul-sanitizing! I think we do that by offsetting the corruption of the world upon ourselves with thoughts that are positive and uplifting. Creating a temple where we would be proud for Jesus to live. This may involve throwing over some tables of habit or driving out bad company, and to do this, you might have to let yourself get angry!
Be mad at the fact that the devil is looking for opportunities to weaken your faith; let it offend you that he wants to infect your family; get enraged over the influence of sin on your children…and then grab your Bible! Read for your own strength and then teach your children. Tell them the account of Esther, then tell them about David, about Paul, about Joseph, about the prophets, about Jesus…fill them up with the Word!
Then pray. Pray to increase your own faith and then teach your children. Demonstrate to your children how they can talk to God, not just before meals, not just before bed, not just when waking in the morning, but throughout the day, for any reason!
Then sing. Sing for your own joy and then teach your children. Show them the happiness you can feel by singing praise songs from your heart and how a good song can lift the spirit! Give your family the supplies they need to fight off the “Bad-Material” that threatens their spiritual immune systems all day long.
Evidently, Paul knew the importance of soul-sanitizing and provided a list of ingredients for the ideal “Anti-Bad-Material” product. Through inspiration Paul tells the Philippian Christians to “meditate on things that are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, and praiseworthy” (Philippians 4:8): godly qualities that will stand up against the plague of immorality. We need to stock up on these things, search for them daily, and provide them to our children, so that we all can be mentally prepared when exposed to sin or temptation.
There is no vaccination on earth equal to the peace found in God: a peace that is impossible to understand but that we can know will guard our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7).
