The Lord has put us in a very unique position right now. With the continuing spread of the novel Coronavirus (and the disease that it causes: Covid-19) the Lord has given us a great opportunity to reflect His glory in a unique and powerful way to a world that is often given to panicking and selfishness. Yes, it may be all too easy for us to give in to fear, and we may be tempted to focus on our own concerns to the exclusion of others, but we have been called to live by faith and to walk in love.
But how do we do this? How can we be the Christ-centered church that the world needs and that God delights in? How do we fight for and show real trust in God that results in wise and loving actions for each other and those around us? Here are some resources to help:
- Gospel Resources on Covid-19 from The Gospel Coalition
- How Do We Make Sense of the Coronavirus, by John Piper
- Part I and Part II of this series from PRC
- Recent message on Psalm 4 by Nathan Smith
And lastly, here is an excerpt from a longer article written by Andy Crouch:
Real Christian hope is our ultimate confidence, rooted in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, that the Creator of the world is also the Redeemer and Sustainer of the world, and will one day return to renew the entire creation. This hope is not just cosmic but personal, in the astonishing and wonderful words of the Heidelberg Catechism:
What is your only hope in life and death?
That I am not my own,
but belong with body and soul,
both in life and in death,
to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ.
He has fully paid for all my sins
with his precious blood,
and has set me free
from all the power of the devil.
He also preserves me in such a way
that without the will of my heavenly Father
not a hair can fall from my head;
indeed, all things must work together
for my salvation.
Therefore, by his Holy Spirit
he also assures me
of eternal life
and makes me heartily willing and ready
from now on to live for him.
One of the great opportunities of this crisis is the chance to relearn these words, teach them to our children and to new Christians for the first time, and live them out together.”