This past Christmas season was brutal for the flu. Everywhere we turned, fevers and coughs were taking whole families down. It spread like wildfire.
That’s the thing about contagion—it doesn’t require large numbers. A small presence can have a massive impact.
Jesus understood this well.
When He described the Kingdom of God, He compared it to yeast quietly working its way through an entire batch of dough.
“The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.”
— Matthew 13:33
The image is simple, yet unsettling. The Kingdom spreads invisibly, relentlessly, from the inside out.
In other words, we are contagious people.
What We Carry Spreads
Our joy is contagious.
Our integrity is contagious.
Our generosity and gracious spirit are contagious.
But so are our frustration, impatience, cynicism, and negativity.
We are “paying it forward” all day long—through our words, our tone, our presence, and even our absence—often without realizing it.
Jesus said it plainly:
“A good person brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil person brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”
— Luke 6:45
So the real question isn’t whether we are contagious.
The real question is: what are we spreading?
The Temptation to Try Harder
Our instinctive response is usually to try harder—to manage our behavior more carefully, polish our attitudes, and make a better impression.
But that path is dangerous.
It risks turning us into modern-day Pharisees: impressive on the outside, but unchanged at the core.
Jesus warned against this kind of surface righteousness:
“You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.”
— Matthew 23:27
Jesus was never interested in cosmetic improvement.
He was always after inner transformation.
Going Below the Surface
When we truly accept that we are contagious—whether we like it or not—the work shifts inward.
Both disease and health begin below the surface.
What flows out of us is always a reflection of what is forming within us.
If I don’t like what I see on the outside of my life, I don’t need to look very far for the source.
I need to look inside.
And for me, that realization always leads back to Jesus.
Formation, Not Performance
I don’t need better techniques or stronger willpower.
I need healing.
I need renewal.
I need transformation at the level of desire, trust, and love.
I am not at my best when I am trying the hardest.
I am at my best when I am trusting God the most.
The Apostle Paul captured this beautifully when he wrote:
“Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
— Colossians 1:27
Christ in me is the hope.
Christ in me is the life.
And my prayer is not merely that I would act better—but that Jesus within me would be contagious.
About the Author
