The Sky Is Falling

Do you remember the story of Chicken Little? An acorn hits her on the head, setting off on a hysterical rant telling everyone “The sky is falling!” That phrase is used today to describe a situation where people jump to conclusions with little evidence, following mistaken notions and overreacting to the situation.

I’ve thought of that often over the last few weeks. Consider the frenzy over H1N1 or “Swine Flu” or whatever they want to call it. CDC reports led to School closures and UIL cancellations here in Texas. Words like “pandemic” escalated the fears of a lot of folks until we finally heard, “Oh, never mind, it is not as bad as we thought.”  Yet some are quick to add, “It could still get bad later on!”

One thing revealed by all of this panic is that there are a lot of scared people out there. I heard a story about a local woman who visited a nursing home. While there, she was told that someone in the nursing home had swine flu (which was not true). That woman called an ambulance to take her to the emergency room because she was afraid she had been exposed to “Swine Flu” and thought she was going to die if she did not seek out immediate medical assistance.

There are a lot of scared people in this world, some of whom let their fears take over and control them. I believe that presents a wonderful opportunity for the followers of Jesus Christ to share with them the peace and confidence that comes from believing in Him as Savior. The certainty that Jesus died to pay for the sins of everyone and rose from death to announce absolute victory gives us peace, confidence and hope. That is what we have to share with all those scared people out there.

Our God invites us to “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). We know the one who is in control. He asks us to remember that we know Him and come to Him with our concerns. Remembering He is in control gives us assurance and peace, because we know how much He loves us.

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. (1 John 4:9-10)

Through faith in Jesus we can confidently proclaim with St. Paul, For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, (including ‘Swine Flu’)  will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)

 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear… 1 John 4:18