Should I Buy A Surgical Mask?

I’m spending a lot of time in airports this week and all of the talking heads on the 24/7 “news” channels are droning on about the newest scare-a flu pandemic. It seems that we all have just a few days to live and that the sky, once again chicken-little, is falling.

When I see a few fellow travelers hurrying along to the next gate wearing a surgical mask, I can’t help but wonder if I should get one. I mean, “just in case.”

It takes about three minutes online to google “surgical masks” and discover that the answer to that question for most of us is, “No.” The experts generally agree that wearing a surgical mask is a bad idea:

“Scotland’s chief medical officer, Dr Harry Burns, yesterday said the masks offered little protection to the public. “Surgical face masks, in terms of the general public, are not believed to have much protective effect,” he said.

“You wear a face mask, it becomes damp during the course of the day and that allows the virus to spread across your face.”http://news.scotsman.com/latestnews/Rush-to-buy-surgical-masks.5220239.jp

So, a surgical mask gives the user false hope and looks impressive, but it doesn’t work!

Reminds me of the false systems of righteousness Paul argues against in the Book of Colossians. Legalism (spirituality by rules) and mysticism (spirituality by riddles-insider information or special experiences):

“These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh” (Colossians 2:23).

Religion is just a mask that hides sin while offering false security. Jesus is the only One who can deliver you and me from sin’s penalty and power.

Authentic Christianity is always, always, always about Christ’s life working on the inside. It never, never, never involves wearing some impressive manmade mask that falsely promises to shield the wearer from the latest spiritual “flu pandemic.”

You don’t need what they’re selling. You need Christ, your only hope. That’s the message God willed to make known to you and me in this, the church age-”the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).