Christian Living

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AVIAN FLU AND THE FEAR OF 'TEMPORAL' DEATH.

Towards the middle of the year 2005, there was ominous threat of the Bird Flu Virus in different parts of the world, including mine. It began as a rumor and gradually became a reality that threw every one into apprehension and some even morbid panic. A particular large farm in the Northern part of the Country was affected so much that the authorities had to make it public. They went ahead and destroyed affected birds in the farm and others in the vicinity.

That singular event did it! In spite of Government effort in public awareness campaign,and their promise to do everything possible to control the spread, people started removing chicken and eggs from their menu. Parents warned their children not to patronize the fast food outlets and they also stopped serving chicken at home.

So far no human casualty has been reported. Several months after, Government and private stakeholders' assurance and effort notwithstanding, a considerable proportion of the populace still say "the fear of bird flu is the beginning of wisdom" and have not been able to summon enough courage to put poultry back on their menu. This has impacted negatively on the poultry business, farms and fast food outlets as well as the protein requirements of the people.

While it is a rational and sensible reaction to abstain from birds because of Virus Flu, enough faith has not been exercised and two lessons can be learnt from this. First we have natural ability to control our desires through the choices we make especially when it is a matter of life and death.
Secondly, if we are able to do this in the flesh, then God can and does come to our help to sustain and enable us through His grace and the power of the Holy Spirit.

As children of God, we are faced with choices between life and death from time to time. But there are spititual choices to be made also. "I have set before you this day, life and death.... therefore choose life". We usually are rational enough to make choices of avoiding temporal, physical death, while many times we fail when it comes to eterna llfe choices. The deceitfulness of temporary pleasure of the flesh and sinful desire jeopardise the grace of of God in our lives. The fear of physical death or capital punishment as in former times or in some religions tend to keep people from committing or indulging in sin. This was the reason for the Mosaic law. However, in due time, the Mosaic Law had to be annulled to give way to better way in Jesus Christ whereby the same law is fulfilled by obedience according to the will of God the Father and by the grace offered by Christ Jesus, rather than by reason of fear of punishment or temporal, physical death.

Though we are no longer under the law and wrath, but under grace and mercy, fear tends to deter while the lure of sin makes believers still do what they should and would not. "Shall we continue in sin so that grace may abound? God forbid!"

For the bird flu and such life threatening events and epidemics which lead people to make choices, we tend to put our "will power" of abstinence and caution in the flesh at work to avoid death. More than this, as believers, we know that it is not about "will power" which fails but the will of God that never fails. It is God that works in us "both to will and to do of His good pleasure". We need to yield to the power of the Holy Spirit, which enables us to continually overcome as we have overcome in Christ Jesus, in spite of the weeknessin the flesh. This way we shall find grace to avoid the spiritual or eternal death. We must yield our will to the will of God by His grace. The name of our Lord who is able to keep us from falling and from death be praised forever.

Although Avian Flu is still being reported in different parts of the world, quite recently, people are putting their faith online with caution and poultry is returning on the menu again and life goes on.
After having verified the condition and relative safety of anything we take in and praying to bless them, we can exercise our faith by believing Jesus, our Lord who said if "we take poisonous things they shall by no means hurt" us. May God continue to keep us.

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