Coronavirus and the Christian

As this article is being written, over 130,000 people worldwide have contracted the COVID-19 disease and just under five thousand have died from it. President Trump has issued a formal statement, along with the Vice President, and the CDC has restricted travel to various countries and regions. Both medical supplies—as well as common household items like toilet paper and bottled water—have been emptied from most grocery store shelves out of panic and consumer stockpiling. Mass gatherings of over one thousand people have been canceled and many sporting events and large public gatherings are being postponed. Hospitals and running out of resources and staff are being subjected to long hours even as our stock market has dropped in historical ways reminiscent of the last recession. In short, the world is going through a significant trial! Thankfully, as Christ-followers, the Scripture gives us hope in the midst of trouble. 

JOHN 16

Jesus speaks calming words of comfort to His followers in John 16:33: "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart, for I have overcome the world." Note with me the two promises seated on either side of the one command: 

Promise #1: "You will have trouble in this world." We know this from the beginning, and yet we often forget that Jesus promised it in advance.

Promise #2: "I have overcome the world." Too often we also forget that Jesus has defeated sin, death, and every foe. He is greater than any sin, trouble, trial, or difficulty. His grace is greater than our sin and His victory is sure and triumphant. That means our response is to obey the command wedged in between these two promises:

Command: "Take heart". We are not to lose heart, but to take heart!

JAMES 1

James 1:2-4 instructs believers in the midst of outward persecution and difficulty to change their perspective:

2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. 

In other words: Consider the fact that you are facing trials to be something worth celebrating.

ROMANS 5

Paul told the Roman believers in Romans 5:3-4:

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope.

If we wanted to work backwards in these verses, we would say that we want to have hope which is the expectation of the resurrection--of heaven--of glory. But we can’t have hope unless we develop character. And Paul says that character development is linked to a lifetime of perseverance. So how do we develop perseverance according to Paul? By enduring suffering! So Christian maturity happens best as we persevere through a trial and our faith is tested but stands through the test, and if we don’t give up then we start maturing and growing. As James put it in James 1:4: we won’t lack anything (in fact, in James 1:12, he says that the one who perseveres under trial will actually be called blessed, and will receive a crown that is promised by God to those who love Him!).

THE ROOT PROBLEM IN TRIALS

So persevering through a trial will lead us to maturity and crowns and blessings. That’s why we should consider it all joy! Including the unsettling news of a worldwide pandemic. Why do we respond with fear, or frustration or discouragement when we face trials? Usually because an idol is exposed. The Bible explains that anything we worship other than the one true God, Jesus, is by definition an idol. It’s false worship. And it always disappoints. So when someone worships success in their industry, and then achieves it, they often commit suicide because the idol lied to them. They achieved what they thought would bring inner joy and lasting hope and it was a false advertiser. Nothing can bring joy like Christ, because nothing else will eternally satisfy. Jesus alone fulfills empty lives, Jesus alone truly heals broken hearts, and Jesus alone ultimately satisfies because He alone is God. Unlike idols, He's not promising one thing and delivering another.

We tend to respond to trials or suffering in one of two different reactions: We moralize or we minimize. One writer says: “Moralists intrepret misfortune as the karmic result of misbehavior. This for that. ‘You failed to obey God, so He gave your child an illness.’ Such rule-based economies of punishment and reward may be the default mode of the fallen human heart, but that doesn’t make them any less brutal...but to conclude that suffering people have somehow heaped up trouble for themselves on the Cosmic Registry and that God is doling out the misery in direct proportion would be more than mistaken; it would be cruel.”

Deep Thoughts, by Jack Handey, said sarcastically: If a kid asks where rain comes from, I think a cute thing to tell him is "God is crying." And if he asks why God is crying, another cute thing to tell him is "Probably because of something you did." As silly as this sarcasm is, how many times do we likewise moralize our suffering?

On the flip side, the other reaction we have is to minimize suffering or pain.

One person said, “Christians, of course, use spiritual language to minimize suffering constantly, even their own. The need to exonerate God in the midst of tragedy--even to shove Bible verses in a person’s face can be just as harmful as saying something actively discouraging, as if God were small enough to be invalidated by our individual suffering.”

So we don’t want to moralize suffering; neither do we want to minimize our suffering, so what SHOULD our reaction be?

THE BIBLICAL VIEW OF SUFFERING

Why do we buy into the Hollywood concept that all problems get "resolved"? We reject the false gospel of "prosperity" that states that it is always God's will that we prosper in body, mind, and finance. Sometimes God allows suffering for His glory. That sick relative's body may not heal. The crumbling marriage may not be reconciled. The repossessed house may not be saved from foreclosure. The meager paycheck may not be big enough to hold you this month. That enemy who sinned against you may not be repentant after all.

We need to have an honest view of suffering, not to moralize or minimize it. We need to motivate it. Motivate it to help us mature. Motivate our suffering to be the catalyst for growth in our sanctification as we become more and more like Jesus. Peter, who was eyewitness to Jesus' suffering, reminded his readers to motivate their suffering to submit to the will of God and to allow trials to bring God greater glory:

1 PETER

1 Peter 4:1-2

Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. 2As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.

1 Peter 5:8-11 

8Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. 10And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 11To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.

THE OPPORTUNITIES AHEAD

As Christ-followers, we have a unique opportunity in the next few weeks and months to have Gospel conversations and to stand set apart from our neighbors as those whose faith is tested, tried, proven, and is at rest in the finished work of Christ. We don't fear death--we don't fear the loss of our assets--we don't fear what man or viruses can do to us. We fear God--and this can open a door for God to be glorified in and through our lives as we shine in truly dark days. Let's ask God to give us resolve, joy, hope, and a voice to share His Gospel message with a world in need of good news!