Thursday, November 26, 2020

Thankful for Covid?

As I have been contemplating Thanksgiving this year, it is easy for me to get caught up in thinking about all the bad things rather than remembering the good things. But as I thought about it, I remembered the concept of "the ugly beautiful" that I read about in Ann Voskamp's Book, One Thousand Gifts. When she was a young child, Ann's family experienced the loss of her three year old sister in a tragic accident, and that event profound affected her family and her growing up years. In the book she writes about being thankful, and she reflected on this horrific event and the negative impacts it had on her family. She came to the conclusion that God can use even the ugly things of life and make them into something beautiful.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:18, the Apostle Paul reminds us to "give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus," and in Romans 8:28, he says "that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." This all things includes that hardest things of life. It does not mean the things themselves are good, but rather that God uses even the bad things for good. Therefore, I want to learn to thank God for the ugly beautiful things. In this year, that means I am have been considering why I can thank God for Covid. What good things has God done because of Covid. 

Refocus on what's important

First, God has used Covid to help me focus on what is really important. A disease that can kill reminds me that life here on earth is not eternal, and not our ultimate purpose. We were made to live for something, no, someone more important. Philippians 1:21 is my life verse and it says, "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain," but I do not live that verse out. Frequently, I live for myself and my own limited pleasures. I forget my Savior and that I have turned my life over to Him to be transformed. When I have to consider my own mortality, I have to reconsider what my purpose. I remember that my life is an eternal, that needs to be lived for and with Christ moment by moment. 

One of the most poignant moments for me about the need to focus on eternal things came this last week when a friend of ours lost her husband, who we also knew, to Covid. This friend walked with us through the hardest moment of loss in our lives, and now is having to walk through a time of deep grief herself. She is declaring her faith and trust in Jesus, and proclaiming her husband's faith as well. In the middle of loss, she has a sure hope that that God is with her, and she will see hee husband again because he knew Jesus too.

To focus on what is important we often need to stop, and Covid certainly stopped a large part of the world. God built a hard stop into his system for the Jewish people called the Sabbath, and He did it because He knew they needed it. During this stop, many families have gotten to (had to?) spend more time together. For our family at least, it provided more moments around the table and more time to remember how important these people are us. 

In other cases, it has meant long separations from family and friends that we care deeply about, and our heart aches as we long to see and hug them again. One friend of mine declared that even though she is an introvert she did not realize how much she still needed people! When things are easy we can take them for granted, and when we take people for granted, we fail to love them like we should. My hope is that we do not just go back to the way things were when we were too busy or too distracted to pay attentions to the friends and family that should really matter to us.

If we are going to be able to learn from this time, we also need to focus on and repent from the the things we were not doing right. God tells us regularly in His word that hard times are times to examine ourselves and rlturn from our sin. If we are not focused on eternal things and we have not been loving our family and friends the way, it means we been focused on the wrong things. God is using Covid as a way to stop us and have us reconsider what is really important, so that real change can happen in our lives.

So I thank God for Covid because He is using it to help me and others to focus on what is really important.

Character

In this process He is using hardships like Covid to develop our character, so that we can become the people He created us to be. In many gyms and weightrooms hangs the sign, "No Pain, No Gain." God built the world in such a way that hardship and pressure are the forces that can break or strengthen objects and people. Here are some ways that God can is using the pain of Covid to form our character.

* Perseverance - How many times in the year have you thought or said, "Is it over yet?" I have many, many times felt a weariness with having to get up the next day to face so much uncertainty. To have to go through the motions of life not knowing if this or that event is even going to be held or whether or not I will get to see this or that person. For some of you it has meant dealing with long-term Covid symptoms. Will today be the day I can go without a blinding headache; I can get out of bed and move around; that my fevor breaks; that I can breath properly again? How do we do life in such conditions? God has given us the opportunity to perservere in and through these challenges. Although none of us has done it perfectly, many are learning that even when life is uncertain they can still get up tomorrow, serve others, do their jobs, and run the race of life even with a stitch in their side (I used to be a cross country runner!)

* Hope - The end result of a learning to perservere with God's help is a life of hope. Right now we see many people despairing, lonely, depressed, and even suicidal. If our lives are not focused on and then refocused over and over on Christ, then in the middle of crisis we will discover those other things will let us down. Money, success, sports, health, and even family and friends will let us down. Only through Christ can we find meaning for our lives and He then puts the other good things in our lives in proper perspective too. So when everything else goes away, we still have Jesus, and He is more than enough.

If you are finding yourself in despair and depression right now, I would encourage you to look to Jesus. If you have never really known Him, spend time getting to know Him now. He is worth it. Get off the internet and news, and read the Bible. Try the Gospels to learn about Him. Read 1 Peter to learn about hope. Read Philippians to learn about joy. He does not promise a change of circumstances in this life, and in fact He promises His followers extra hardship, but He does promise to be with us and to bring us to glory. Covid has reminded me over and over about my need to refocus on these truths and find my hope and joy in Jesus.

* Love - In many places and times in our world, love is simply a transaction between people to get what they want. As long as you are giving me what I need, I will give you what you need. But real love, God's love, is not like that, and He wants us to learn how to love unconditionally like He did and does. Covid and 2020 in general has provided many opportunities to love others even when we do not feel like it. How many times have you had serious disagreements over the proper way to try to combat Covid, or who to vote for, or how to handle race relations? As you gather or don't gather today, are there people close to you with whom you are not happy because of their choices and ideas? Well, guess what? That is a perfect opportunity to learn how to love people better! Yippee, we "get" to love our enemies (and family), because that is exactly what God has done for us. I know it has been an especially challenging season for people in any kind of leadership position, and so often we can get mad at their decisions but how often to we pray for them and thank them for taking on the hard jobs. Our church and our leadership team has had some intense moments this last year, but I love those people more now because we have had honest discussion while still showing love to each other. Take this opportunity to express your love, especially those who are hard for you to love. Thank God for giving us a chance in 2020 to learn to love in the middle of the ugly beautiful.

God's grace and mercy

One of the reasons that prompted me to write this is that I have often focused on the wrong things this year and not been thankful. I listen to the news and talk almost constantly about the bad stuff that has happened or that might happen. Instead, I want to learn to see the good that God is doing, and also remember to thank Him for the good we regularly have. Things often are not as bad as they could be, but I forget to thank Him for His daily grace and mercy.

For instance, even Covid is not as bad as we originally thought. In March, I was thinking that the fatality rate was going to be much higher than it proved to be. I expected that several people in our church could pass away and many people in our local communities. I am not denying that Covid is serious (remember I just had a friend pass away this week), but should we not thank God for His mercy in not allowing a much worse tragedy? Have our prayers for mercy for many of our sick friends not been answered with a yes? I praise God for allowing many of my friends to recover from Covid. I thank Him for many others who have not gotten sick or who have had mild cases. I praise God that although He allows diseases, He also made us with immune systems that fight diseases. I thank God for modern homes and good food so that many of us already live longer and healthier than most people throughtout history. I thank God for wisdom from doctors and researchers who have developed many treatments that did not exist even 100 years ago. We are blessed in many ways and God can and is using Covid to remind us of those daily blessings.

Conclusion

Being thankful in the midst of and even for the hardest things in life gives us a new perpective. They remind us of God's sovereignty and His goodness. Therefore, instead of a life filled with fear and uncertainty worrying about new hardships, we can live with hope, joy, and love. Going forward, I pray for myself and you, that because of the hardship faced we will be more prepared for the next challenges and for eternity with our Lord and Savior.

Monday, January 20, 2020

Why do we have so much fear?

In an age when so many people (especially young people) live in fear of climate disaster, and all the news we get is negative about the future, I think it's important to have some realism about what's actually happening. We need a better historical perspective. Here Bjorn Lomborg shows us the life is actually safer from natural disasters that it used to be. The physical parts of life used to be much harder and much more dangerous for most people. We especially in the west live in much safer times, but we probably live in more fear than people in the past did.
As I heard one Pastor put it recently, we have an idol of safety. We want to feel safe in all circumstances, and we magnify every danger if it makes us feel unsafe, even if we are actually physically much safer than we used to be. I'm convinced it's a control issue. We want the illusion of having control of all the parts of our lives, but we can't, because we aren't God.
But there are several problems with focusing on eliminating danger and staying safe as an ultimate goal. One is that we live in fear instead of a life of faith and trusting God with our future. Second because we don't want to fail and we don't take the risks necessary to accomplish bigger things. This is not just in physical areas, but also relational and emotional risks.
This is why identity in Christ is so important. If you know that you are loved by your creator and that your eternity is secure, then you can live without fear.
Fear can motivate people to action, but it's a horrible way to live. If instead you can live in the safety a God's love, then you can still respond to challenges and not be crippled by your fear of what might happen.