Over
the past few weeks, I have noticed a change in me. At first, as I thought about
the situation with the coronavirus, I didn't think it would affect me very
much. Even when we were all told to limit contact with others, I wasn't fazed
much. I already have tendencies toward being a hermit. However, as things
progressed, my thinking has changed. Actually, how I'm feeling about
things has changed. I was noticing that something was feeling wrong. And as I
reflected on that I decided that it wasn't anxiety (worry, fear), but it was a
feeling of being unsettled. I realized that I was feeling unsettled because we
are in the midst of a very large change. Life for us as a society is being
altered in some very significant ways. Once we are given the 'all clear' and
the virus is no longer the problem that it currently is - at least for now -
life will not go back to the way that it was. We will all be faced with some
very large differences.
So,
how can we, as Christians, respond to the prospect of having to face these
changes? Here are my thoughts.
1.
Submission. An essential element of being a disciple of Jesus is the heart attitude
of submission to the Father. A large part of that is captured by what Mary said
to Gabriel. “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to
your word.” (Luke 1.38) We are to submit to whatever it is that our God calls
us to be or to do. We are His servants. He calls the shots. This is critical.
For one thing, this is what it means to be a creature. He is God, and we are not. This is also
critical for our own sake. How else will we be able to live well if not by
submitting to our Father? But this is also critical for the sake of those who
are watching us. Submission honors our God, leads us into a greater experience
of life and provides the kind of evangelistic message that is so desperately
needed these days.
2.
Trust. Another essential element of being a disciple of Jesus is the heart
attitude of trust. We can trust our Father. We can trust Him to do what is good
and right. And He will do that for the sake of His own glory. That is always
first. But we also know that what He does will also result in great blessings
for us. We will enjoy some of those blessings now, in this life, and others
later, in the life to come. We know that can trust Him because He has assured
us of His loving care for us. He has made too many promises about this for us
to miss it. We can trust Him also because He has proven Himself to us in other
situations. We have experienced His loving care in the past. So, we know that
we will experience it in the future.
3.
Prayer. Sadly, we are not as submissive as we have been called to be. And we
are not as trusting to the extent that we have been called to be. So, we need
to come to the Father, first confessing our failures, our sins, asking for His
forgiveness. And then, we need to come to the Father asking for the ability to
do better at submission and trust. He will grant our requests. And it will show
in how we respond to the changes that are coming, especially since we aren't
quite sure what they will be. This is a situation where we can be tempted to
fear. But this is also a situation filled with opportunities for the spread of
the Gospel. Let's pray for ourselves and each other when it comes to these
things.