What Is the Plural of Virus?

Is it viri or virii, like the plural of cactus? Or perhaps vira nor virora?

Actually, it is quite simply: viruses.

My home has been invaded with viruses. Some alive, some not. All are invisible to the human eye, yet the symptoms they illicit are extremely obvious to even the casual observer.

How can something so minute be so powerful? How can something that I couldn't even see bring me to a place of utter uselessness?

To answer the questioned posed to you in my last post, the answer, at the time, was 102.6--that being my temperature. Now, however, under the aid of Advil, I am a cool 99.1, able to sit at my computer for a spell, pondering the strange phenomenon of being infected by a virus.

In spite of the hundreds of hand-washings, the liberal use of bleach and the loads of laundry through the hottest of cycles, I, apparently, was doomed from the get-go. I remember getting that "strange" feeling in my chest and throat. I knew the hours of being functional were numbered. There was nothing that could be done to stop it by that point. I made the best of the time that I had left, cleaning, organizing and caring for my girls, for soon, I realized, I would be a wasted and fevered lump under the covers of my bed.

Interestingly enough, I had just observed my laptop fall to the same horrible fate. One week earlier, I had noticed some unusual behavior from my trusty Dell. To Dell, it must have felt something like a tickle in its throat. Poor Dell. I ran for my Dell's medicine cabinet, by way of defragmentation and reconfiguration. The symptoms persisted and even grew worse. I knew a prescription medication must be in order, so I downloaded a spyware removal kit.

Alas, the virus that had infected poor Dell had already spread beyond any hopes of eradicating it. I watched hopelessly as Dell succumbed to a fatal disease caused by a tiny, non-living, non-feeling, non-remorseful virus.

As the strange feeling in my chest became more prevalent and I could feel my temperature rise, I thought about what I had just witnessed in Dell. I couldn't help but feel a kinship with my poor computer. Dell sat dormant on the table across from my bed, completely useless.

What I find most interesting, is that a virus is utterly useless by itself, unless it obtains a host. Once it accomplishes that, the host feeds the virus without even knowing it. What that means is that Dell was feeding its virus and I was feeding mine probably for days before we saw any adverse symptoms. My body was enabling the virus to grow and become for powerful day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, to the point where it was eventually more powerful than I was. Something microscopic succeeded in halting my entire life as I know it. Very humbling.

On a much larger scale, I can't help but draw the parallel between this virus and sin. The Bible depicts sin as yeast in I Corinthians. If you've ever made bread you know exactly how yeast works. Yeast, by itself, is worthless. It has to be activated. And once it is, there's no stopping it. Even a very tiny amount can affect an entire loaf of bread.

Sin is the same way. The concept, in and of itself, is worthless unless it is activated within a host--you and me. And the enemy is smart. Sin tastes so sweet at first that many times we are simply unaware that we are slowly being infected, all the while the virus of sin is planting its roots in our soul. By the time ugly symptoms begin to arise, the virus is usually way ahead of the game and very difficult to combat.

There is a VERY big difference between a virus and sin, however. As I found out at Gabby's doctor appointment last week, she had a virus--which now I have--and there are no medications that can fight it. But there IS a medication to the disease of sin: Jesus Christ. Because of His death on the cross and resurrection from the dead, sin can be wiped out of my body time and time again. I do not have to fall victim to it and die, like my Dell.

That is the hope that I have. That is the hope that we all can have. We are powerless on our own. But God has promised us that same power that raised Jesus from the dead, if we just accept that free, healing gift. The medicine that is Jesus.

Romans 6:11-13 (The Message)

Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life—no longer at sin's every beck and call! What we believe is this: If we get included in Christ's sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection.

We know that when Jesus was raised from the dead it was a signal of the end of death-as-the-end. Never again will death have the last word. When Jesus died, he took sin down with him, but alive he brings God down to us. From now on, think of it this way: Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God. That's what Jesus did.

That means you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives. Don't give it the time of day. Don't even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life. Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time—remember, you've been raised from the dead!—into God's way of doing things. Sin can't tell you how to live. After all, you're not living under that old tyranny any longer. You're living in the freedom of God.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I thank God that I do not have to fall victim to the virus of sin. I have to combat it every day, but through Jesus, I can claim the victory. So can you!