'Tis the season for the viruses. Yes, as this GemLight was being composed we in North America were well into the that time of the year when influenza and colds were making their unwanted rounds throughout society.

Some situations, like the Swine Flu, can be quite deadly, or very disabling in the least. So folks, like myself, disinfect door knobs, phones, faucets, and anything else that comes in contact with our bare hands or is often prey of the miniscule droplets that emanate from our nose and mouth.

Most of us know a virus cannot be seen by our naked eye. It takes a microscope to be seen. Nonetheless, they are around.

Likewise, the spiritual aspect of sin cannot really be seen. We can see some sins being committed and some of the results of sin, but the spiritual facet of it is unseen. Yet, that unseen is very real.

Now, most people in their right mind really do not want something like the Swine flu. Would to God that the same fear some have of catching that disease would be the same attitude we have toward sin. We don't want it. This attitude should be firmly rooted in the knowledge of what sin did to Christ.

Remember Christ in the Gethsemane, asking the Father to let the cup pass from Him? Christ was not recoiling from torture and death, but from the fact He was going to take both our sin and our sin nature. One of the most potent verses to me is 2 Corinthians 5:21, "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."

The first part is horrible: "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin..." Christ, Who was without sin, actually became sin for us. Other verses indicate our sins were actually transferred to Him. He recoiled at this. So, we too should recoil from sin.

But then there is that beautiful part, the focus of His cross: "That we might be made the righteousness of God in him." That is more than a million times better than if you were dying from the Swine Flu and someone gave you their healthy life and took your illness.

Christ loved each one of us so much as to become sin for us. It would be great for each person to be willing to give up what they are and let Christ in, so they may become all that He is.