In the last few days, my Facebook feed and LinkedIn stream have been cluttered with posts about coronavirus concerns. On LinkedIn, people are concerned about the crisis’s affect on business. On Facebook, people are mostly making fun of toilet paper hoarders.
It’s heartbreaking to see so many Christians mocking the natural response of their neighbors to an event that is affecting everyone.
Throughout history, there have been plagues, wars, famines, pestilences (the Biblical word for pandemics), persecutions, and all sorts of troubling situations. These have fallen on Christian and non-Christian alike. Each of these less-than-stellar set of circumstances has been allowed by the sovereign will of God, which none of us have the power to thwart. Nevertheless, how should we respond?
Do Not Be Anxious
I believe the Apostle Paul provides the answer in Philippians 4:5-7. The hinge of these three verses is the first clause in verse 6:
Be anxious for nothing
These echo the words of Jesus in Matthew 6:25. In black and white, Jesus proclaims, isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothes? Isn’t there more to good health than a roll of toilet paper?
Not to be light, but anxiety does not solve problems. It never has.
Prior to this injunction, Paul writes “Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.”
The Philippians were being persecuted. Paul alludes to that reality in the first chapter of his letter to the church at Philippi when he wrote:
Let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel, and not in any way terrified by your adversaries ….
The emphases are mine, but you should get a clear picture that the Lord’s people should not fear or be anxious in the face of troubling times. If God is for us, who can be against us? And do we not believe that all things work for our good?
Be Wise, Obey Your Leaders
Jesus told his disciples to be wise, because he was sending them out to live as sheep among wolves. He said this on the heels of exhorting them to go and spread the message of the kingdom. “Go to the lost sheep of Israel,” he told them, and preach the message, “The kingdom is near.”
If you believe in Christ, the message is still the same today. The kingdom is in our midst. In the same way that Philippi was a colony of Rome, the church that Christ set up is a colony of God’s kingdom on earth. And we’ve been commissioned to notify the lost sheep that the kingdom has come. We cannot be effective witnesses if we are mocking them and being harsh with them for reacting to the day’s events.
For our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20)
In contrast, our worldly neighbors have set their minds on earthly things (verse 19). If we mock them, haven’t we done the same?
We’ve been called to a higher standard. And that includes obedience to civil authorities, worldly rulers who are quite often agents of evil.
Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution … (1 Peter 2:13)
The president has asked the entire country to not meet in groups of 10 or more. Many states have requested, or ordered, that businesses shut down temporarily to help curb the spread of coronavirus. The purpose is to slow down the spread of a disease that could have far-reaching consequences on public health and the global economy. I applaud governing authorities for responding to the current crisis quickly and working together for the public good. As Christians, we should use this time wisely to ease any suffering our neighbors may be experiencing, encouraging others to persevere through the crisis, and to be ready to give a respectable defense for the faith we possess in Christ.
Allen Taylor has been walking (and wavering) with the Lord for 28 years. He has served local churches as a Sunday school teacher, a small group leader, a worship leader, a prayer group leader, and a minister of the Word. His journey isn’t over yet, and he still needs discipling.
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