Vaccines Vs. Measles...What's a Christian to Do?

   The past two weeks have been an explosion of articles, blogs, and opinions over the battle of vaccines and the measles outbreak in Disneyland.  Passions are up, and judgements are flying from both sides, causing this girl to walk around having debates and arguments in my head, and knots in my stomach.  The fear mongering and the hate has run high, and it's coming from both sides of this argument.

  This post is not about which side you should be on, nor will I choose scriptures to try and support one view over the other.  I would like to take a moment to focus on the root of all this unrest in our hearts.  As I have prayed about it, researched the science on both ends, and tried to work around media biases, and the like, I think that the real root of all this passion and anger is fear.

 And for those of us who claim to be Christ followers, who claim to trust in a Sovereign Lord, and who claim to live no longer for ourselves but for the one who redeemed us, fear has no place in our reasoning, and no place in our motivations.

2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJV)
  "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind."

Fear drives us to put up barriers to protect ourselves. It creates camps of "us" and "them", and it motivates us to start building fortresses where we think we can provide our own safety at any cost.  Loss of control for our lives and the lives of the ones we love, in any form, can drive us to fear-motivated reactions. And when we are afraid, we have little room in our hearts and thoughts for anything else.



  Friends of ours serve the Lord through missions in central Asia. The very fact that I cannot name them or the country they serve in for safety reasons should be a strong clue as to how much danger they are surrounded by on a daily basis. We often read of this danger in the daily news, and we pray for their safety. On a recent visit to our church we were able to talk with them about the challenges they face as they live amongst, and love, the very ones who may take their lives. By any measure of worldly thoughts, these people have a right to be fear driven. However, I was comforted and challenged to see their calmness, their love for the people they serve, and their willingness to live out their position as dead to themselves and alive to Christ.

Philippians 3:8-11(NKJV)

8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

 What example are we being to the onlooking world if our views and opinions are based in fear?  I have seen a good many "believing" people post articles, statistics, and opinions in an attitude of disgust, anger, and hate on social media.  What room have we to speak the Truth in anything but love?  Much less to speak our personal opinions about non-eternal matters with vehemence and urgent despair as if our hope in God was not the rock to our lives as we claim it to be.


   Did we forget that God cares much more for our children than we ever could?  The Christ-follower knows that God's promise of protection in our lives is not centered on physical protection (although He often does give us that as well) but it is a guarantee that nothing can snatch us from His hands, or separate us from His love.  If He was willing to send His own Son to the cross on our behalf, He may allow some of us to suffer physically as well. This means that we must trust Him with our lives and the lives of our children. This in no way absolves us from making wise and careful choices for those He has entrusted to our care, but instead it relieves us from the impossible task of keeping all forms of harm and hardship from entering into their life.


  There are risks to any decision we make for the ones we love and care for. Many times I have had to turn my fears over to the One who directs the wind and the waves, and who changes the hearts of man, especially when it comes to matters of parenting.  It seems as though parenting has a way of driving me to my knees, begging for God to grant direction and wisdom, more than any other area of my life.

  Brothers and sisters, let us love one another, and respond to one another in kindness, peace, and with a sound mind. Let's encourage one another to trust the Lord more deeply, and to care for each other when our little ones are going through hard times, or when we have to make hard choices on their behalf. And, let us show the compassion of Christ as we try to understand our brothers and sisters who stand on the other side of the fence on this issue.

 Vaccines vs. Measles? What should a Christian do? Well, we should trust in the One we have given our lives to, and not give way to fear.  He knows what it is to love a child.