Since we are Christians we want to be thinking and acting in a Christian way as we face the moment we are living in. So here are several biblical principles that need applying in various ways related to the current coronavirus concern.
First, Christians are not revolutionaries or anarchists. We believe that God establishes all powers, and we are taught clearly in Scripture to honor them and submit to them, so long as they do not require us to disobey God’s word. It is their God-given jurisdiction to enforce justice, protect human life, and punish evil doers.
Second, the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself, and this includes the fifth commandment, honor your father and your mother, as well as the sixth commandment which requires us to protect and preserve life. Taking trouble to protect the lives of the more vulnerable and the elderly is a high privilege for Christians. Christians should also be on the front lines of thinking creatively in this moment about how to use their gifts to bless and serve others.
Third, God is absolutely sovereign over all. Not one detail is out of place. God rules the nations. He rules the stock market, the congresses, the courts, and He is there in the inner chambers of every deliberation, every press release, every medical research lab, and he turns the hearts of kings like rivers of water. “If a trumpet is blown in a city, will not the people be afraid? If there is calamity in a city, will not the LORD have done it?” (Amos 3:6)
Fourth, not one sparrow falls to the ground without the will of the Father. All your hairs are numbered, and every day of your life was recorded in God’s book before the foundations of the world. Therefore, we are to be anxious for nothing but rejoice always and in everything. As Stonewall Jackson once explained his fearlessness, “Captain, my religious belief teaches me to feel as safe in battle as in bed. God has fixed the time for my death. I do not concern myself about that, but to be always ready, no matter when it may overtake me.”
Fifth, none of this requires Christians to be naďve or reckless, either about basic cleanliness or health etiquette or about the machinations of men who may desire to manufacture crisis or panic, economic instability, political turmoil, or undermine principles of biblical justice, for their own ends.
And so all of this teaches us to fear the Lord, and it reminds us of our need to confess our sins.
Photo by Timon Studler on Unsplash
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