Coronavirus

Coronavirus and Missions

May 7, 2020

During a recent midday Devotional, I spoke about Elisha’s interaction with his servant, who at the time was distressed by the presence of the Syrian army that had completely surrounded them, and were under instructions to seek their demise.  Elijah calmly shared his perspective with his servant saying, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” He then prayed that his servant would have his eyes opened so that he could see things from God’s perspective and not his own. After sharing that story, I encouraged us to be like Elisha and pray for God’s perspective to be revealed to us. Well guess what? When you pray, God, in His providence, can answer in several different ways. Below is what I consider to be one answer to prayer, a kingdom perspective in the area of missions. It’s an excerpt from John Piper’s latest book, Coronavirus and Christ (yes, books addressing this issue are already being written and published 😊). May God bless us as we reflect on this perspective:

Loosening Roots to Reach the Nations

In the coronavirus God is loosening the roots of settled Christians, all over the world, to make them free for something new and radical and to send them with the gospel of Christ to the unreached peoples of the world.

CONNECTING THE CORONAVIRUS with missions may seem like a strange idea, because in the short run, the coronavirus is shutting down travel and migration and missionary advance. But I am not thinking short term. God has used the suffering and upheaval of history to move his church to places it needs to go. I am suggesting that he will do that again as part of the long-term impact of the coronavirus.

Persecution as Missionary Strategy

Consider, for example, how God moved his people out of Jerusalem, on mission, into Judea and Samaria. Jesus had instructed his disciples to take the gospel to all the world, including “Jerusalem and . . . all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). But by the time of Acts 8, it seems the mission was stalled in Jerusalem.

What would it take to move the church into mission? It took the death of Stephen and a consequent persecution. As soon as Stephen was martyred (Acts 7:60), a persecution broke out:

 There arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. . . . Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. (Acts 8:1–4)

That’s how God got his people moving—with martyrdom and persecution. At last, “Judea and Samaria” were hearing the gospel. God’s ways are not our ways. But his mission is sure. Jesus said so. And his word cannot fail. “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18). “This gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations” (Matt. 24:14). Not “may be proclaimed.” But “will be proclaimed.” 

Setbacks as Strategic Advance

We may think the coronavirus outbreak is a setback for world missions. I doubt it. God’s ways often include apparent setbacks that result in great advances.

On January 9, 1985, Pastor Hristo Kulichev, a Congregational pastor in Bulgaria, was arrested and put in prison. His crime was that he preached in his church even though the state had appointed another man as pastor whom the congregation did not elect. His trial was a mockery of justice. And he was sentenced to eight months in prison. During his time in prison, he made Christ known in every way he could.

When he got out, he wrote, “Both prisoners and jailers asked many questions, and it turned out that we had a more fruitful ministry there than we could have expected in church. God was better served by our presence in prison than if we had been free.”

This is often God’s way. The global scope and seriousness of the coronavirus is too great for God to waste. It will serve his invincible global purpose of world evangelization. Christ has not shed his blood in vain. And Revelation 5:9 says that by that blood he ransomed “people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.” He will have the reward of his suffering. And even pandemics will serve to complete the Great Commission.

Neighbor Love From a Distance

March 30, 2020

How do we fulfill the second great commandment to love our neighbor as we love ourselves during a time when we cannot be physically present with them? It’s a question you’ve likely asked yourself, or a friend, and it’s something that we will have to be thinking about for at least the next month or longer, it appears. Here are a few simple, practical suggestions. This is certainly not a comprehensive list, and I encourage you to share your ideas in the comments section under this post.

  1. Make a phone call. Texting is fine and helpful, we’ve become more and more used to communicating to one another in this manner, but in a time when we’re homebound, it’s great to hear someone else’s voice, particularly someone you know and love, and particularly if you live alone and don’t have anyone else to talk all day. God gave us voices, and when we don’t get to use them regularly, technologies that connect us more physically than less physically are a rich blessing. So call your friends, yes. But also call someone you don’t know as well, just to check on how they’re doing. Call someone that you suspect is likely lonely. Call the neighbor down the street that you haven’t seen since the block party last year. And if in God’s providence they are still alive, absolutely, definitely, without a doubt call your mother and father.

  2. Make video calls. Whether you use Facetime or Skype or Zoom or whatever your favorite video conferencing platform might be, take advantage of newer technologies that allow us to see one another. Sure, no one loves to see or hear themselves on camera, but at this point, it’s probably just great to see someone other than your family members. I participated in my first Zoom video call this past weekend, and it was so good to catch up with the three other couples on the screen, to share stories from the past two weeks, to laugh together, to pray together. Sure, it was glitchy, and we spoke on top of each other several times. But we finally figured it out.

  3. Write letters. Again, texts and emails are fine too, but there’s something about receiving an old-fashioned, hand-written, smudged, signed letter in the mail. A letter can communicate emotion and feeling even better than a text or email. It can be placed on a coffee table or in a book and read again and again. It can be preserved for decades and centuries (“Grandpa, can you show me your letters from the COVID crisis again?”). It doesn’t have to be long - a short note will suffice.

  4. Share what’s in your pantry. You may have gotten to the grocery story to stock up on some needed items before the stores ran out. And while it seems that the supply is returning on important products, you may hear of someone who doesn’t have something you have multiple packs/units/items of. Be generous, trusting the Lord to provide for you and your family and you give away what He has already provided for you. Maybe it’s toilet paper. Maybe it’s hamburger meat. Maybe it’s bread. If we panic-shopped, then what isn’t in the stores is in someone’s pantry. So don’t be ashamed to ask around if you’re out of something. Give folks an opportunity to love you. I’m almost certain you’ll have an opportunity to love in return before this is all said and done. (In this category would also fall going shopping or going to the pharmacy for someone who shouldn’t get out due to a higher risk of catching the virus.)

  5. Share the gospel. People are going to be asking spiritual questions during this season. They will be more open to talking about God, about death, about eternity, about sin and suffering. Remember the words of Peter: “In your hearts honor 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” (I Peter 3:15). Jesus’ words could not be more appropriate than they will be in these coming weeks: “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). Now is the time to grow in evangelistic zeal and courage, to practice sharing the gospel. Have a basic outline in your head: God, Sin, Christ, Faith. Talk about the sovereignty of God as the basis of our hope in times like these. Talk about the holy justice of God, and how we deserve far worse than we actually receive because of our sin. Talk about the fall of Adam as the source of all misery and suffering. Talk about the death and resurrection of Jesus as the only hope for sinners, and the return of Jesus as the day when all sorrow will be wiped away. Talk about what it means to trust Jesus, to turn from sin, to strive for holiness by grace, to walk by faith and not by sight. Pray for revival, and pray for opportunities to talk about Jesus with your neighbors.

As I said - there are certainly more practical ways we can love our neighbors; please share them with us! You’ve probably already thought of the ones I’ve mentioned. But if not - try them out.

C. S. Lewis on Coronavirus, Excitement, Frustration, and Fear of Death

C. S. Lewis’ essay “Learning in Wartime,” found in his book Weight of Glory, is an amazing essay in its own right. But it’s even more powerful right now, as we face a virus which is just as life-altering as World War II was back in the 1940s. Originally an address in Oxford in October 1939, a month after Britain had declared war on Germany, Lewis writes to students who may be wondering why they should worry about their studies in light of something so threatening and all-encompassing. Even if you are not a student, no matter what your calling might be, this essay is applicable to you on many levels. The last few pages are particularly rich. I quoted a part of these paragraphs in my sermon this past Sunday, but want to give you more of Lewis’ classic work. As in my sermon, I’m going to replace “war” with “coronavirus” so that we might be helped to apply these words more directly to our situation:

I would again repeat what I have been saying in one form or another every since I started - do not let your nerves and emotions lead you into thinking your predicament more abnormal than it really is. Perhaps it may be useful to mention the three mental exercises which may serve as defenses against the three enemies which coronavirus raises up against the scholar [enter your calling here].

The first enemy is excitement - the tendency to think and feel about the war when we had intended to think about our work. The best defense is a recognition that in this, as in everything else, coronavirus has not really raised up a new enemy but only aggravated an old one. There are always plenty of rivals to our work. We are always falling in love or quarreling, looking for jobs or fearing to lose them, getting ill and recovering, following public affairs. If we let ourselves, we shall always be waiting for some distraction or other to end before we can really get down to our work. The only people who achieve much are those who want knowledge so badly that they seek it while the conditions are still unfavorable. Favorable conditions never come. There are, of course, moments when the pressure of the excitement is so great that only superhuman self-control could resist it. They come both in coronavirus and peace. We must do the best we can.

The second enemy is frustration - the feeling that we shall not have time to finish. If I say to you that no one has time to finish, that the longest human life leaves a man, in any branch of learning, a beginner, I shall seem to you to be saying something quite academic and theoretical. You would be surprised if you knew how soon one begins to fell the shortness of the tether, of how many things, even in middle life, we have to say “No time for that,” “Too late now,” and “Not for me.” But Nature herself forbids you to share that experience. A more Christian attitude, which can be attained at any age, is that of leaving futurity in God’s hands. We may as well, for God will certainly retain it whether we leave it to Him or not. Never, in peace or coronavirus, commit your virtue or your happiness to the future. Happy work is best done by the man who takes his long-term plans somewhat lightly and works from moment to moment “as to the Lord.” It is only our daily bread that we are encouraged to ask for. The present is the only time in which any duty can be done or any grace received.

The third enemy is fear. Coronavirus threatens us with death and pain. No man - and specially no Christian who remembers Gethsemane - need try to attain a stoic indifference about these things, but we can guard against the illusions of the imagination. We think of the [hospitals of Wuhan, Italy, New York, etc.] and contrast the deaths there suffered with an abstraction called Life. But there is no question of death or life for any of us, only a question of this death or that – of a virus now or a cancer forty years later. What does coronavirus do to death? It certainly does not make it more frequent; 100 percent of us die, and the percentage cannot be increased. It puts several deaths earlier, but I hardly suppose that is what we fear. Certainly when the moment comes, it will make little difference how may years we have behind us. Does it increase our chances of a painful death? I doubt it. As far as I can find out, what we call natural death is usually preceded by suffering…Yet coronavirus does do something to death. It forces us to remember it. The only reason why the cancer at sixty or the paralysis at seventy-five do not bother us is that we forget them. Coronavirus makes death real to us, and that would have been regarded as one of its blessings by most of the great Christians of the past. They thought it good for us to be always aware of our mortality. I am inclined to think they were right. All the animal life in us, all schemes of happiness that centered in this world, were always doomed to a final frustration. In ordinary times only a wise man can realize it. Now the stupidest of us knows. We see unmistakably the sort of universe in which we have all along been living, and must come to terms with it. If we had foolish un-Christian hopes about human culture, they are now shattered. If we thought we were building up a heaven on earth, if we looked for something that would turn the present world from a place of pilgrimage into a permanent city satisfying the soul of man, we are disillusioned, and not a moment too soon.”

How Do We Effectively Pastor During This Time?

This is the question the entire Church is asking today: How do we effectively pastor during this time? This is the question that Jared Wilson responds to in his very helpful blog:

A friend messaged me yesterday asking, “How do we effectively pastor during this time?” In this odd season of quarantining and social distancing and church service suspending, how can pastors maintain their duties to the flock?

In some contexts, perhaps the work of shepherding continues fairly normally. For many others, however, the daunting prospect of ministry in the season of COVID-19 entails more than simply figuring out how to live stream a service. If you can’t be near much of your congregation, how do you pastor them? Some suggestions:

1. Keep preaching.

Obviously, conscience and conviction may dictate whether you want to preach via the internet, but it’s still important to put the gospel in front of your people as many ways as you can. If that means broadcasting a full sermon each Sunday, do it. It may also mean publishing podcasts, vodcasts, blog posts, tweets, or Facebook updates involving devotional thoughts. Right now, your people are taking in all kinds of messages—some helpful, some not, some simply distracting. Don’t let other voices tempt them in their loneliness or anxiety to tempt their eyes away from Jesus. Figure out the ways that work best for your convictions and your context to “show them Jesus.” This is your prime directive.

For the rest of the list, click here.

How To Survive and Have Fun At Home During A Pandemic

One of the biggest concerns that I have been hearing recently has been what parents can do to keep their children active and not merely in front of screen during this time. How can we have some sort of “normalcy” during this time? I am sure that there are many helpful articles out there (and I will seek to pass several of those along as well) but here are some things that might help a family who has their children at home more than usual.

  1. Exercise
    Going to a gym or sports practice seems to be a “no-go” right now since things are touched by everyone. So, how do we stay active? Here are some helpful tips:

    1. Walk/Run/Bike around the neighborhood. You can still practice “social distancing” by walking around the neighborhood with your friends.

    2. Find good YouTube workout videos. There are TONS of people who have developed helpful videos for at-home workouts with no weights needed. Trust me, if you find the right video, it’ll get the job done.

    3. Walk the dog/cat/hamster. Just kidding. Don’t walk the cat. I’ve done that before. We hardly got 50 feet.

  2. Yard Work
    The grass is growing. Get out there and cut the grass! Look, you can even spread it out. Cut the back yard one day and cut the front yard the next day. As experts are telling us, it helps to be outside in the heat to defeat the spread of the disease.

  3. Pick up books
    This is the perfect time to replace the phone, Netflix, and video games with a good book. Pick up Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, or The Hunger Games. Read a good fiction book. Get immersed in the wonder of a good story told. Pick up a good book to aid in the Christian life. Check out books by John Piper, Tim Keller, Kevin DeYoung. Don’t do audiobooks! Get a real book in your kid’s hands. Matter of fact, I bet Amazon will still deliver books to you!

  4. Grill Out, Bake, Cook
    Teach the kids how to cook. Parents, what could be better than you taking time to teach the kids how to grill out, bake, and cook now so that when life gets back to normal you can get your kids to cook for you? Teach them how to cook the basics so that they don’t have to survive on Easy Mac and Ramen Noodles when they go to college. They’ll make more friends when they know how to make an awesome “White Chicken Chili”. Don’t microwave food (unless it’s leftovers). Enjoy the process of creating, putting together, and enjoying a hard-earned craft. Cooking can take about an hour to three hours from getting off the couch to finishing your last bite. Take advantage of it.

  5. Find a Hobby on YouTube
    I have seen several of our students who can woodwork, build stuff and every other synonym that goes with what I just said. There are tons of awesome tutorials and “how-to” videos on YouTube that our students have already learned from. I know students who have learned how to work on cars, knit, cook, bake, do magic tricks, play the guitar, and many other things off of YouTube. Take advantage of technology during this time to get them to do things that will take their eyes off of screens. Yes, it means that they’ll have to get on screens in order to find something. But, it’ll pay off in the end.

  6. Space Out Your Entertainment
    One of the best ways to promote boredom and complaining teenagers is if we watch all of our entertainment in only a few days (or hours!). Space it out. Don’t watch a movie every night. Don’t spend all the time in front of the TV. To be sure, we need to watch how much we’re in front of screens but let’s also be realistic that we will certainly be in front of screens a good amount during this time. This isn’t all bad. We just need to be good stewards.

  7. Board Games
    It’s time to break out the board games. There are some really fun games you can purchase or dust off:

    1. Bang!

    2. Pandemic (Yes, this might be the most fitting game during this time!)

    3. Forbidden Island

    4. Risk

    5. Ticket To Ride

    6. Settlers of Catan

    7. Exploding Kittens (don’t worry, it’s a fun and silly game)

    8. Superfight

  8. Keep a Normal Sleep Schedule
    Not every day is the weekend. Even though it feels different, avoid the late nights. Go to bed at a normal time and wake up at a normal time. This is definitely a time to get more sleep (as many youths get only around 4-6 hours a night) but don’t over-sleep.

  9. Don’t Wear “Lazy Clothes” All The Time
    When I was on my “paternity leave” with Knox, I quickly realized that if I put on jeans, shoes, and a decent shirt that I would not feel as drowsy and lazy. Get your kids to still put on decent clothes at times to help the mood. Now, to be sure, don’t make them wear their school uniforms or a suit. Actually, I’d love to see kids wear suits. Send me the pictures! But seriously, don’t go overboard but do figure ways to have them realize that it’s not the Summer yet.

  10. Get on FaceTime and Make Phone Calls; Don’t Just Text
    Get the kids off of texting during this time and get them on FaceTime, House Party, Instagram Live, or whatever else it is to get them talking with each other. Keep up social contact during this time but foster good conversations and not sporadic texting. Bring back the days where you might have a 30+ minute phone conversation with one person. That’s not bad!

  11. Don’t Overload Chores
    Some of us might be grinning from ear to ear like the cartoon Grinch did when he figured out how he could destroy Christmas. Don’t overload your kids with chores. Like the entertainment, space it out. Don’t burn them out. Dads, don’t burn your kids out of yard work. Get them outside but don’t keep them outside until the sun goes down. Moms, don’t worry if they take some time to sit down and watch TV or play games. Give them stuff to do but give them time to hang out. It’s very healthy for them to work hard AND play hard. That creates a good mindset. We don’t want workaholics. We want to create good stewards.

  12. Consider Buying “Table Topics”
    This is one of the BEST conversation starters. It’s a box of tons of questions that help you start genuine conversations. Grace and I have done these and one day we spent hours outside without phones going through some questions. There are tons of different options that they have. I’ll include some below:

    1. Original

    2. Family

    3. Teens

    4. Dinner Party

  13. Go Fishing!
    This is a great way to get outside and still have social distance. Get your hands dirty. Dig up some worms from the ground. This is a good way to get with friends without getting sneezed on.

  14. Make A Literal Bucket List
    Make a bucket list or a “jar” list that you write your own ideas on. Do one a day. Figure out some fun things that you know your family loves to do.

  15. Plant a Garden
    Plant some thyme, oregano, basil, tomatoes, peppers, and anything that you can consume. Plant some bushes, flowers, vines, or whatever else to decorate your home. If your kids help you plant the garden, I guarantee you they’ll think twice before running through it next time.

How Do We Love Each Other Well During A Time Of A Pandemic?

Many of you know Andy Crouch from his books on leadership, culture, or technology stewardship. Andy always seems to put his finger on the pulse of where things our in our culture. In this timely article, Andy Crouch talks about how we can love each other in leadership during this time. Here is an excerpt:

At this extraordinary moment, local leaders — people who lead groups of 10 to 1,000 people — have perhaps the greatest opportunity to shape culture in the United States that they have ever had. This is a guide for those of us who are Christian leaders at this moment.

Shaping culture is a matter of changing “the horizons of possibility.” Culture tells us, in countless direct and indirect ways, what we are able to do, and what we are not able to do. And leaders play an outsize role in moving those horizons, especially at times of disruption and crisis. They play that role through both symbolic action — what they say, how they say it, even how they hold themselves and respond to others — and through decision-making on behalf of others.

A leader’s responsibility, as circumstances around us change, is to speak, live, and make decisions in such a way that the horizons of possibility move towards shalom, flourishing for everyone in our sphere of influence, especially the vulnerable.

With the arrival of COVID-19 in the United States, we need to change the horizons of possibility extremely rapidly in two fundamental ways:

We need to change norms of social interaction literally overnight to minimize the transmission of the virus. I will outline below what I believe are the most important steps, based on the best public information about SARS-CoV-2 (the virus) and COVID-19 (the disease). These steps feel drastic. Crucially, implementing them early enough will require tremendous leadership because they will not initially seem necessary to most of the people we lead. When dealing with pandemics, the measures that will actually make a difference always need to be taken sooner than we think.We need to redirect social energy from anxiety and panic to love and preparation. This crisis presents an extraordinary opportunity to fortify small communities of love and care for our neighbors. That will only happen if we lead in a way that reduces fear, increases faith, and reorients all of us from self-protection to serving others.

There are several reasons that now is an almost uniquely important moment for local leaders. We have become accustomed to culture being shaped “somewhere else” — by elected officials, especially national ones; by celebrities; by media. But we are dealing with a virus that is transmitted person to person, in small and large groups of actual people. This is not a virtual crisis — it is a local, embodied one. Local, embodied responses will quite literally mean life and death for people.

For the full article, click here.

Francis James Grimke and the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918

One of my hobbies is collecting and reprinting the writings of and about 18th and 19th century American Presbyterians (I was a history and mathematics major at LSU, and have enjoyed studying history for as long as I can remember; combine that with my love for the Presbyterian Church and books, and I guess it was only a matter of time before Log College Press happened). Preserving and reading old books is important for many reasons (if you’ve never read C. S. Lewis’ essay “On the Reading of Old Books,” do it as soon as you can), but one of my favorite reasons is that “there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 7:10). The trials and issues we face today have already been faced by Christians in generations past, and their writings continue to minister powerfully to us.

One example is immediately obvious: a recent precursor to today’s coronavirus pandemic was the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918. Between October 1, 1918, and November 1, 1919, nearly 3,000 citizens of our nation’s capital died from the virus. During October 1918, as we’re experiencing somewhat today, public gatherings were banned. Francis James Grimke was an African American Presbyterian minister in Washington, D.C., who pastored Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church from 1878-1928. When his congregation was allowed to gather for corporate worship again on November 3, 1918, he preached a sermon entitled Some Reflections, Growing Out of the Recent Epidemic of Influenza That Afflicted Our City. In it he elaborates upon several lessons he learned during the worst season of the deadly flu. I encourage you to read all eleven pages of Grimke’s sermon, but I want to summarize a few of the things he learned in hopes that God might teach us similar lessons over the next few months.

1. In spite of all the resources of modern science and all the skill of trained professionals, it is easy for viruses to kill large numbers of people. Grimke soberly reminds us, “How easy it would be for God to wipe out the whole human race, in this way, if he wanted to; for these terrible epidemics, plagues, the mighty forces of nature, all are at His command, are all His agents. At any moment, if He willed it, in this way, vast populations or portions of populations could be destroyed.”

2. Why do some who get the virus die and others recover? Why do some get the virus and others do not? Certainly there are physical answers to those questions. But ultimately, the answer is that God has written all our days in His book, when as yet there was not one of them (Psalm 139:16). Grimke explains, “[The reason] is to be found in the will of God. For some, the time of their departure had come, the limit of their earthly existence had been reached, and this was God's way of removing them out of this world into the next. Some day we have all got to go, but how, or when, or where, we do not know; that is with God alone.”

3. Viruses are no respecter of persons, and certainly no respecter of skin color. In Grimke’s day, racial discrimination against African Americans in the United States was present to a large degree. He was struck by the way that white Americans were having to face the fact that white skin was no guarantee of a stronger constitution, as some in his day were claiming. “In this terrible epidemic, which has afflicted not only this city but the whole country, there is a great lesson for the white man to learn. It is the folly of his stupid color prejudice. It calls attention to the fact that he is acting on a pinciple that God utterly repudiates, as He has shown during this epidemic scourge, and, as He will show him when He comes to deal with him in the judgment of the great day of solemn account.”

4. Flu pandemics keep death and eternity before people in a way that only wars tend to do. Grimke puts it beautifully, and I quote him at length: “While it lasted, it kept the thought of death and of eternity constantly before the people. As the papers came out, day after day, among the first things that every one looked for, or asked about, was as to the number of deaths. And so the thought of death was never allowed to stay very long out of the consciousness of the living. And with the thought of death, the great thought also of eternity, for it is through death that the gates of eternity swing open. We don't as a general thing think very much about either death or eternity. They are not pleasant things to think about, and so we avoid thinking of them as much as possible. It is only when we are forced to that we give them any consideration, and even then only for the moment. They are both subjects of vital importance, however, involving the most momentous consequences. For after death is always the judgment. The grim messenger is God's summons to us to render up our account. That there is an account to be rendered up we are inclined to lose sight of, to forget; but it is to be rendered all the same. The books are to be opened, and we are to be judged out of the books. During the weeks of this epidemic—in the long list of deaths, in the large number of new made graves, in the unusual number of funeral processions along our streets, God has been reminding us of this account which we must soon render up; He has been projecting before us in away to startle us, the thought of eternity.”

5. Finally, it is only a living faith in Jesus Christ that can give a true sense of security in the midst of deadly perils. “While the plague was raging, while thousands were dying, what a comfort it was to feel that we were in the hands of a loving Father who was looking out for us, who had given us the great assurance that all things should work together for our good. And, therefore, that come what would—whether we were smitten with the epidemic or not, or whether being smitten, we survived or perished, we knew it would be well with us, that there was no reason to be alarmed.” For the Christian, to live is Christ and to die is gain. And so while we live, we live for Christ and for the good of our neighbor, not for self. And if He chooses to take us home, then we rejoice that we will be with him forever.

May the Lord grant us protection and peace, as well as grace to use this trial for our spiritual growth and His glory!

Dear Christian, When The Pandemic Hits, This Is Our Time (TGC Article Excerpt)

Once again, I would like to provide another article that might aid your faith in our all-Sovereign God who is completely in control of every molecule and disease in this world. I have been greatly helped by several articles and blogs this week and I am only wanting to pass these along.

This is a season where the “rubber meets the road” for our faith. How big is our God? What are the demands of the gospel? Do we really love our neighbors? What an opportunity for us at Pear Orchard!

Here is another helpful excerpt from a good blog post from The Gospel Coalition:

And so we’re wondering: how bad is this crisis going to get? Is our society going to pull together, and get through it together? Or is the panic buying a sign of things to come?

Will we be praising the bravery of our medical staff, like we praised the RFS during the bushfire crisis? Or will many of the hospital staff go AWOL if the crisis picks up, like they did in the Matt Damon movie Contagion?

How bad will this crisis be?

The truth is, we don’t know for sure.

And so as a society, we’re increasingly anxious. Anxious for our loved ones. Anxious for ourselves. It’s a time of fear.

But whatever happens, dear Christian, know this: this is our time. God has raised us up for such a time as this. It’s no accident you’re here.

This is our time to think not about ourselves, but about our neighbours. Many of whom are scared, and will only grow more so as the virus spreads.

For the full article, click here.

What Would Martin Luther Say About The Coronavirus?

As the tensions, panic, and severity of the coronavirus seem to be ramping up over the past 48 hours, Martin Luther is certainly someone who comes to mind in circumstances like this. Luther, the man who fired the theological shot that was heard about the world, was a man who also went through a legitimate plague.

In August of 1527, the infamous Black Plague visited Wittenberg where Luther lived. What was his take on the plague that had knocked out far more than our coronavirus? Was it to downplay the disease in light of God’s sovereign provision? Was it to overreact in fear and hysteria? No. As you might see, Luther has one of the most balanced responses in circumstances like ours.

In his helpful overview of how Luther responded, Marvin Olasky from World Magazine has shown how Luther might react were he to be alive today. Here is a helpful excerpt:

Luther’s step one was to follow Christ’s statement, “‘As much as you did to one of the least, you did to me’ (Matthew 25:40). If you wish to serve Christ and to wait on him, very well, you have your sick neighbor well at hand. … This is said as an admonition and encouragement against fear and a disgraceful flight to which the devil would tempt us so that we would disregard God’s command in our dealings with our neighbor and so we would fall into sin of the left hand.”

Luther went on to say: “Others sin on the right hand. They are much too rash and reckless, tempting God and disregarding everything which might counteract death and the plague. … They do not avoid persons and places infected by the plague, but lightheartedly make sport of it and wish to prove how independent they are.”

Luther concluded, “It is even more shameful for a person to pay no heed to his own body and to fail to protect it against the plague the best he is able, and then to infect and poison others who might have remained alive if he had taken care of his body as he should have. He is thus responsible before God for his neighbor’s death and is a murderer many times over. My dear friends, that is no good. … Shun persons and places wherever your neighbor does not need your presence.”

For the full article, click here.