A Christian Response to the COVID-19 Panic (4-minute read)
Why has the entire world more or less collapsed over the Coronavirus so quickly? What sent humanity on such a quick downward spiral of terror & anxiety in such a short period of time (literally less than 4 months)? We seemed to be doing well enough before it hit, & there were plenty of other illnesses killing more & affecting more than COVID-19. So what makes this one different?
The reality is, nothing is different than any other pandemic virus the world has ever seen, aside from the group of people experiencing it. That’s it. There is no cure, & mortality rates have been presented so carelessly that nobody really knows what’s going on, other than the facts that this virus is highly contagious, & it has killed thousands in these four months. As a follower of Christ, I see nothing special about this virus, or humanity’s reaction to it. If we have an accurate understanding of the brokenness of humanity in sin, this panic shouldn’t surprise us at all. A deadly disease [depending on multiple factors] with no known cure & a contagion rate so high that even being within 6 feet of a COVID-19 patient can transmit it creates an environment where we need something to reassure us that everything is going to be okay. It forces us to admit our own inadequacy-there is nothing humanity can do to avoid death, sickness, peril, or evil, because it is within us; & this fact scares the daylight out of us. It should. We’re trying to fight a wildfire with an empty water pistol.
In his work The Gulag Archipelago, Aleksander Solzhenitsyn said it well:
“The line dividing good & evil cuts through the heart of every human being.”
As followers of Christ, we cannot expect a humanity with no source of life in Him to not be afraid when they are faced with the reality of their own depravity. So when your atheist neighbors & agnostic family members are barricading their homes & stripping the local grocery stores of food, this is a logical behavior of one with no assured hope or foundation.
How we followers of Christ react, however, is a completely different story.
If we showed up at church last Sunday & sang “Yes, I will lift You high in the lowest valley; yes, I will sing for joy when my heart is heavy,” or “Jesus! You make the darkness tremble; You silence fear!” or even “Don’t let your heart be troubled; hold your head up high & don’t fear evil, but fix your eyes on this one truth: God is madly in love with you! So take courage, hold on, be strong; remember where our help comes from!” OR EVEN “When peace like a river attendeth my way; when sorrows like sea billows roll–whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say: ‘It is well, it is well with my soul!” why do we then go home & panic out of a fear that says “No, I don’t really trust God-I’m going to let my panic drive me to do & say things I never would have otherwise & strike a level of fear into my heart & the hearts of my children & peers that drives us away from God”?
This is insanity. It has to stop. We cannot expect the world to understand the hope we have in Christ Jesus. But it should drive us to react to this disease in a way that makes them look to us for help. “Why aren’t you panicking?” “Why are you so confident right now?” Why aren’t you scared?”
God WILL move in this situation, He WILL make it work for good. But He, in this age, will do so more often than not THROUGH HIS PEOPLE.
So what? Your kid’s travel ball got cancelled. They’ll be okay. Their future IS NOT tied up in whether or not they even go to college, let alone play D1 sports. It’s wrapped up in God’s hands.
So your vacation to Cabo got cancelled & you can’t go to the beach. Who cares? You now have a week that you took off work to be intentional with your friends & family & SHOW them that you care about their wellbeing, both right now & eternally.
Most of all, who cares if Wal-Mart is out of toilet paper? You’ll find a solution–God will provide. (& to be honest, I never would’ve thought it would be necessary to write those sentences, but here we are).
Wake up, Christians. “I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” –Romans 8:38-39 CSB
There are needs all around you. Your neighbors have no hope. They are literally terrified at the thought of their own inability to respond to this crisis. To be sure, there are wise guidelines to follow & decisions to be made that come through the sovereignty of God in man-made enterprises like the CDC & the Presidency that we need to follow–we don’t have to have church in-person for a time. We can worship together online or in smaller groups & ride out the storm while God works in the chaos. That’s what my church is doing, & praise God that we are. But at the same time, we dare not sit back & twiddle our thumbs waiting for God to use somebody else to help bring hope in such a terrifying time. He never left that option open to us.
Beth Moore said it INCREDIBLY well yesterday via her Twitter:
“It would be a mistake for us in Christian circles to disregard the warnings about large gatherings. If the thought is, “We’re the church. We’ll do whatever we please & God will protect us,” He does not protect the proud. He opposes them. We are not snake handlers. We’re servants. Love our neighbor. Protect the vulnerable. Put others 1st. Pray hard for direction. Fellow ministry leaders, we need not fear that we will have no ministry. We’ve never been called to ministry more loudly, urgently and profoundly in our lifetimes than at this moment. Gear up.”
When she says “fellow ministry leaders”, she is not just talking to those in pastoral positions at your church. If you’re a follower of Christ, this call is for YOU.
So gear up, Church. If we were serious about our relationship with Christ, & we are honestly & authentically following Jesus, this is what we’ve been training for our entire believing lives. This is what you were made for.
Ty Hirsch 