Dave’s Monday Blast – March 23, 2020
Redeeming the crisis. One of the ways that God wants to redeem this COVID-19 deal is by showing us how much we need Him! But the Lord also wants to redeem it by showing us how much we need each other.
It is difficult to make sacrifices that don’t seem necessary at the time. If America were Italy and greater numbers of us were sick and dying, we would obviously see the need for social distancing and other sacrifices for the common good. Right now it is harder to embrace. But we do need to keep in mind that as this event marches forward, other needs beyond illness will become painfully obvious. Issues of job loss, food shortages, electric bills, mortgage payments, propane, gasoline, etc, will become perhaps a new and unwanted normal.
Right now every message we hear from our government entities through all media sources tells us to “isolate, quarantine, hunker down, sequester, create space, eliminate points and places of personal touch and interaction.” It is a risk management strategy. I do understand the need to be personally prudent and responsive to best practices in regards to this event, but I might suggest that instead of just risk management we need a little risk tolerance.
According to Jesus, at the heart of the Christian faith, we prove our love for Him by the way we love others (John 13:35). Matthew 25:40 tells us to “serve the least of these,” and in so doing, we serve the Lord. Such service means that we must modify our lives for the sake of others. David French notes, “If we are in part responsible for the care of older and sicker Americans, then we need to adjust our own behavior. If we’re present with older parents and friends, then their risk tolerance should be our risk tolerance.”
That means that we should seek practical ways to help those in greater need than ourselves. For instance, we can buy gift cards online to local groceries or gasoline stations (or a dozen other vendors). We can pick up supplies for those who are shut in and isolated. We can find ways to encourage health care workers and at-risk individuals, especially the elderly.
And it means that we should become a national army of intercessors for our nation’s physical and spiritual well being. The call for a National Day of prayer on March 15 was an appropriate and urgent reminder that we should be INTENTIONALLY interceding every day for our leaders as they are under a tremendous strain.
