The first of April is usually reserved for April Fool’s jokes. If only COVID-19 was nothing more than one of these! As you would be more than aware, the situation our country, and our world, is presently facing is far from a joke. The number of infections, and deaths resulting from infections, is devastating. The impact on people’s lives and livelihoods is immense. This ought to engender compassion on the part of Christians, a desire to show God’s love in practical ways, a commitment to speak of the hope that is ours because of the Gospel, and a heartfelt turning to the Lord in prayer.
I was struck by some words shared by Englishman, Rico Tice, in a recent email to those connected with his Christianity Explored ministry. I include some of it below as I found it quite perceptive.
“How this pandemic has taken us back to basics! There are so many ways of interpreting what’s going on but surely one is that our idols have been taken from us, so that we have to focus on our souls. So many good things that had become God things have been removed: the Six Nations rugby and the Premiership, meeting in cafes and restaurants for meals, the health and the gyms that we take for granted, economic prosperity.
All these gifts: sport, health, prosperity, family have been treated as givens. Well, no longer. And our prayer is that like the Prodigal Son in the midst of a famine our friends, loved ones, colleagues and relations will ‘come to their senses’ (Luke 15:17), and will say to themselves, ‘How could I have been so blind and ungrateful?’”
Perhaps his perspective might help you as you think through and process what we are experiencing at this time.
- Are there good things in your life that have become God things? What are they?
- What gifts from your Creator have you been taking for granted that have now been removed or withheld?
- What might God want to communicate to you at this unusual time?
- In what ways is Jesus superior to idols that seem to promise so much yet deliver so little?
