Seth Godin reports on a number of things which are contagious. According to a recent study, a person’s chances of becoming obese increases by 57 percent if they have a friend who becomes obese. Other contagious things listed by Seth include teen suicide, terrorism, spamming, graffiti, and becoming a millionaire. You just have to hang around with the right friends.
Faith is also something contagious. I’m talking about active faith, not passive faith. The type of faith which involves following the Holy Spirit’s promptings to do things which appear risky or foolhardy to others and which are doomed to failure without divine intervention. The type of faith that makes life an adventure and gets the blood pumping. The type of faith that believes God is living and active in the world today, and we can have significant roles in his mission.
Contagious faith is frequently at work in the world. In Africa, contagious faith in Jesus has spread from less than 9 million believers in 1900 to 417 million today. The makings of contagious faith exist in every believer’s heart. All it takes is a willingness to listen to what God is saying, and the courage to step out wholeheartedly into the unknown and risk everything.