My Thoughts on COVID-19

Like everyone else in the whole world it seems, I have heard little more than the words "Corona Virus" for the past week.

My sister posted a photo the other day, with a caption about all of the hype. One line that stood out to me in her post was this,

"The troubling thing to me is that it seems there are only two stances you can take and they’re very opposing sides: You either are taking it very seriously and are therefore overly paranoid, or you’re brushing it off like it’s nothing and therefore burying your head in the sand and contributing to the problem. There doesn’t seem to be a middle ground, at least not where social media is concerned. Can we just accept that this is a thing and it IS serious and should be treated as such? But can we also be rational and promote rational thinking and actions instead of absolute mayhem and a survival-of-the-fastest-to-the-toilet-paper-aisle attitude?" -Deborah Kakoz

I haven't been overly vocal about this whole thing, mostly because I feel like I'm not quite educated enough to "pick a side." The optimist in me wants to brush it all off like it's nothing, but the realist in me pauses, unsure what to think.

I think Deborah said it well, "Can we just accept that this is a thing and it IS serious and should be treated as such? But we can also be rational..."

As I have mulled it over, I've had one passage in the bible that has stayed almost constantly in my mind.

And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” (Mark 16:15-18)

I'm not trying to prophesy that the Church will not be affected by the Corona Virus. But I am trying to point out that the Church has NOTHING to fear. God has complete control over the Corona Virus, and He is completely on our side.

I didn't really realize that passage was in my head until about the sixth time I thought of it, and then I thought, "Why don't I put together a blog post about what the bible has to say about fear?"

You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth,

And called from its farthest regions,

And said to you,

‘You are My servant,

I have chosen you and have not cast you away:

Fear not, for I am with you;

Be not dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you,

Yes, I will help you,

I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’ (Isaiah 41:9-10)

My intent in this post is not to tell you all what you should think or do about COVID19, but just to point out what the bible says, and what people who have been through hardship before us have said.

Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:5-9)

From the Netherlands, 1982:

“Worrying is carrying tomorrow's load with today's strength- carrying two days at once. It is moving into tomorrow ahead of time. Worrying doesn't empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.” -Corrie Ten Boom, "Clippings from my Notebook"

“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ (or what toilet paper shall we use?) For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (Matthew 6:31-34)

In all of my mulling, I keep coming back to this: That we have nothing to fear because Jesus loves us, AND because He has created us for a purpose. The Church exists in every historical moment to be a light in the darkness, which means YOU exist in THIS moment for a purpose.

From Belfast, 1948:

“This is the first point to be made: and the first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together. If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb*, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. It may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but it need not dominate our minds.” -C.S. Lewis, "On Living in an Atomic Age"

*C.S. Lewis was writing about the Atomic Bomb, but you may substitute "Corona Virus" for "atomic bomb."

"And the Lord, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.” (Deuteronomy 31:8)

From Germany, Early 1500's, concerning "the Black Death:"

"I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall fumigate, help purify the air, administer medicine and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance inflict and pollute others and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me however I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely as stated above. See this is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God."

-Martin Luther, "The Annotated Luther, Volume 4: Pastoral Writings, page 404."

From The United States of America, 2020:

"We are more likely to lose a relationship due to neglect than to a virus." -Mercy Hope (my good friend)

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. (James 1:22-25)

Goodnight my friends! I hope none of us catch Corona, but more than that, I hope we become better Christians because (not in spite) of it.

In This is Love

Echthros: Enemy - an adjective, primarily denoting "hated" or "hateful."

Hey Readers! My sister had an insight into Romans 5, and I thought it would be cool to post it on here.

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I was at church this past Sunday, and I’m gonna be honest with you, I didn’t really pay attention to most of the sermon because I was lost in my own thoughts.

The first passage read in the sermon was Romans 5:8-18, but I got stuck on verses 8-10. Particularly 10. 

“But God demonstrates His own love for us in this; While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through Him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life!”

“We were God’s enemies.” Enemies? I’ve never heard that before. I’ve heard people talk about how we are God’s children and how much He loves us, but the idea that we were God’s enemies is totally a foreign concept to me. Then I started thinking about it; it actually makes sense. Sin is the enemy of God, and we were born into sin; engulfed in sin, therefore it would make sense that we, sinful beings would be His enemies. 

Matthew 5:44 says, “But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

This is where it gets awesome. God, through sending Jesus, was not only sending Him to die for us, but He was also sending Him as an example. Jesus came to die for His enemies. Wow.

I feel like our culture tends to be pretty selfish. If someone doesn’t treat you the way that you want them to: cut them out of your life. Would I be willing to take a bullet for someone I love? Of course! Would I be willing to take a bullet for someone I hate? For someone who is against me and everything I stand for? 

1 John 4:10 says, “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

THIS is real love. 

-Tabithah

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 For He must reign till He has put all enemies (echthros) under His feet. The last enemy (echthros) that will be destroyed is death. (1 Corinthians 5:25-26)

Not every enemy is destroyed by punishment, some enemies are destroyed by love.

Day in the Life of a Pro-Life Activist

In February, on a university campus in Florida, I was handed a paper by a young man around my age. I looked at the paper; the title was Florida Atlantic University Communists. 

It had been written in anticipation of us, we were there to talk to the students about abortion, so the paper promoted communism and free abortion on-demand.

Soon a young lady walked by, and the gentleman who gave me the paper extended it to her. She looked confused, asking him, “What’s this?” “It’s free abortion on-demand!” He said proudly. “Oooh!” She took the paper and excitedly showed her friend. I walked over and extended my pamphlet to her, she reached out to take it and asked, “What’s this?” Before I could answer, she had opened the pamphlet and seen the picture of a 10-week old aborted child. She recoiled and quickly handed my pamphlet back to me, “I’m sorry, I can’t look at that.” She looked back to the communist paper and walked away.

The exchange replayed in my mind:

“What’s this?” She had asked me.

It’s free abortion on-demand.

I don’t think that moment will ever leave my memory. The ideology attracted and excited this young girl while the reality of it so horrified her that she couldn’t bear to look at it. It was like I saw the state of our entire culture embodied in one girl, I was stunned.

We are a culture of people who advocate for something and when asked, “What do you think about this thing that you support?” shy away saying, “It’s a really complicated subject,” or “I just don’t want to get into it.”

We can’t “not get into it.” Real live children can’t afford for us to choose to look at a paper with words instead of facing the reality of their fate.