For the first time the world has simultaneously come across global health, financial and food crisis. As a result, be at the remotest mountainside local Church or in the midst of a mega city Church, there seems to be one similar question of what God is telling the people of God in the midst of Covid-19? It seems God is telling us some important things to the Church to reconsider.
Time to remove the extra baggage in our Christian life. 2 Timothy 2:4 exhorts us that “No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.” Covid-19 is the mega phone of God shouting to us in His faithfulness and love telling us that, “Hey my child, there is too much weight on your life already.” It is a painful yet loving reminder that we have accumulated too much extra baggage along our journey already and that we need to throw down some weigh if we want to follow Jesus Christ to the end.
Time to refocus our priority. Covid-19 is calling us to rebalance our spiritual priority. Matthew 13:45-46 is about a merchant who upon finding a pearl of great value went and sold all that he had and bought it. This is about a man once he truly understands the value of the Kingdom of God is ready to trade everything he has in order to possess that Kingdom. This crisis is a time for the Church and for all of us to refocus our spiritual priority and give up some of the things if the Spirit of God has prompted us to do it.
Time to look forward to the City of God. In this physical world we can easily become so cozy and caught up with the fanfare and what it can affords us and easily forgot that we are pilgrims on a journey towards the Heavenly City. Hebrews 11:10 is a powerful pictorial reminder of father Abraham pressing on towards his earthly life’s journey looking forward by faith to “the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” It is time we look beyond the mundane life to the celestial city of God knowing with the sure knowledge that that will be our eternal home one day. Philip Yancey in his book, “Rumors of Another World” encourage us to resonates our daily ordinary life here on temporal earth by living in a spiritually conscious state of the eternal world which we are heading towards.
Time to accelerate sharing of the good news.Covid-19 is a reminder that our life on earth is temporal and we are fragile and can die any moment. It is also a reminder that end times are at the horizon. May this covid-19 point us to a spiritual stage to examine of witnessing life in the context of a disciple of Jesus Christ. It will be good to ask ourselves straight this question: How many times have I truly witness Jesus Christ and share the gospel of salvation to my colleagues or neighbors or friends? Do I care and think about the perishing souls whom I encountered daily in my life? If the good news is so good to me and it brings eternal salvation and peace in me, why must I keep to myself only? If I say that the gospel has transformed and freed me from sins and all others bondages and gives me citizenship of heaven, why must I not share it to others? Jesus Christ said in Matthew 24:14, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Who knows you still have very short opportunity before the end comes. Begin accelerating the good news by starting from you.
May covid-19 brings in right perspective and right action in our lives that is worthy of God’s honor and glory!
