As a healthcare professional working in the current challenges and future uncertainty posed by the new coronovirus I have to keep reminding myself of where i should be looking and to whom i should be looking.
Things to remind ourselves of as Christians:
We should be marked by Peace not Panic.
As Christians we should be
characterised by peace even in the face of potentially anxious
circumstances.
‘You will
keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in
you.’ Isaiah 26:3.
Jesus said: ’I have told you these
things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble.
But take heart! I have overcome the world.’ John 16:33
Notice, it’s not the fact that we have no problems, or that everything is going really smoothly for us, that leads to peace. It is the fact that Jesus walks with us and that he has ultimately won the victory for us that brings us peace.
Where does our peace come from? At Ellis’s funeral recently we read from Psalms 139, which he himself read out and spoke from at Beryl’s funeral – Psalm 139 (v16) says ‘all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.’ Our peace comes from looking to God and trusting in His character and His promises. We do not need to panic. Steve Vincent has recently been looking at The Kingdom of God and in Daniel 2 we see very clearly that God is sovereign, he reigns over Kingdoms and nations, he also reigns over creation and nature, disaster and disease. God is sovereign, God is good, and He has promised that in all things He is working for the good of those who love him and have been called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).
Put on your Kingdom glasses. We can
trust God.
Jesus tells us not to worry, because
worry will not add a single hour to our lifespan. Remind yourself
continually: ‘It
takes the same amount of energy to worry as to pray. One leads to peace, the
other to panic. Choose wisely.’ Todd Wagner
We should be marked by Wisdom not Foolishness.
Yes, we trust God, yes, we do not
give into fear, yes, we fix our minds on God and have peace, but that does not
mean we should throw common sense out of the window and act foolishly.
We will serve those around us well if we are responsible, act appropriately, and follow the guidance set out by our professional bodies and government. It is foolish and unwise to ignore this and to somehow think that we are immune to diseases. With this in mind we have put in place measures, as a church, that we feel reflect the very difficult but necessary steps that the Government have encouraged us to take as communities.
Equally, it is unwise to go the other
way and stockpile food, panic buy, and hide away from helping those around us
to avoid being infected. Over the coming weeks and months there will be many opportunities
for each of us to step into the gaps, as services struggle under the strain, to
help the most vulnerable around us.
Acting irresponsibly and, at the
other extreme, withdrawing from society, both lack wisdom and fail to act in
the reality of what it means to live for Christ in a fallen and fragile world,
where we are called to both suffer with humanity, and serve humanity, alongside
one another for the glory of God.
We should be marked by Hope not Despair.
Our hope does not rest on anything we
see going on around us. Our hope is not based on a belief that this virus will
not turn out to be as bad as some think or that it will not kill as many people
as some predict or even that our families will not be affected. Our hope comes
from the gospel of Jesus Christ. As the world is ravaged by a new virus we
should see, reflected in this, the reality of a virus that is even more rampant
and ‘pandemic’ with an even greater death rate and far more reaching
consequences, but for which God has already provided a cure:
Mark Oden writing for the Gospel Coalition summarises it like this: ‘Humanity lives in the grip of a pandemic outbreak called sin… and the story of the Bible is the story of a God who entered a world infected with this virus. He lived among sick people, not wearing a chemical protective suit but breathing the same air as we do, eating the same food as we do. He died in isolation, excluded from his people, seemingly far from his Father on a cross—all so he might provide this sick world with an antidote to the virus, that he might heal us and give us eternal life.’
His name is Jesus, and He said:
“I am the
resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though
they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe
this?” John 11: 25-26.
Our faith in Jesus provides us with a sure and certain hope, not just in the face of the coronavirus, but in the face of sin, and death and hell, and it is our privilege to share this hope with our world in the midst of darkness and despair, whenever and wherever God gives us opportunity.
‘…in your hearts honour Christ the Lord as holy, always being
prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope
that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.’ 1 Peter 3:15
Because of Jesus we can approach the throne of grace, the throne of God, with confidence, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16). So let us lay hold of that privilege on behalf of our world and come before the throne of God, confident, that He has all that we and our world needs, both now, and always.
