We meet for lunch. Fellowship over Mediterranean food. Simply connecting while all around us the global spread of a virus ensues. Intensifies.
Events cancel. Borders tighten. Universities move to virtual classrooms. Our best-laid plans are disrupted. Interrupted. Changed.
We sit in sunshine and cool air. Sisters conversing about life journeys. Children. The hard and unexpected turns in the path this past year. The joy of following Him.
Pandemic
Coming up several times in our conversation? The new virus. COVID19. Surprising us in its ways. Subtle. Undiagnosed. Then prominent and rapid. With far-reaching consequences.
Pandemic. Altering daily lives and schedules. Agendas. Travel plans.
Emptying the store shelves. The city streets.
Martyr
We sit outdoors on simple chairs. The breeze picks up. Clouds build, move in. Cover the sun.
Then she asks if I heard about what happened? In the past week. Did I see the email from a mutual friend who lives across the world? No.
So she shares the news they received. About a faithful follower of Christ. A servant of the gospel in that country. Beaten severely. Brutally.
He made it back to his home. And died. His last words giving praise to his Lord.
A martyr. For the sake of the gospel.
Reminded of the eternal
We are sobered. Grieved. And reminded of the eternal.
The global pandemic fades in the gravity of the situation. The enemy of souls. Seeking to kill and destroy.
We are not unaware of his schemes. Or the weight of darkness that attempts to stop the gospel. From reaching the ends of the earth.
God of all comfort
We part and move on with our day. But the loss for this brother’s wife and family and the body of believers weighs heavy. Stays in my mind.
I turn to the Compassionate One. Who sees and knows. The God of all comfort.
He walks this valley with them.
Thank You, Lord. For your faithful servant who counted the cost. And paid the price for following You. You alone are worthy.
Thank You, Father. That in the horrific, evil attempts to silence a witness, the darkness cannot overcome Your light. It cannot. In You there is no darkness. At all.
And I remember the gospel.
The other pandemic
The world is in the grips of another ongoing pandemic. The disease of sin and hopelessness.
But God sent His Son, who took our sins upon Himself. He died on a cross. Was buried in a tomb. And resurrected on the third day. Victorious over sin and death.
Today this message of Jesus Christ offers eternal life. Overflows with hope. For all who will repent of their sin and believe in Him.
Because of this transforming gospel, His people continue following Him. To the unreached. No matter where. No matter what. No matter who.
And every now and then, in our ordinary days, we are humbled. Spurred on. By the example of those who pay the ultimate price. Like this courageous brother in the Lord.
“Well done, good and faithful servant.”
Who can separate us…?
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation
for those in Christ Jesus,
because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death….
Who can separate us from the love of Christ?
Can affliction or distress or persecution
or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
Because of you
We are being put to death all day long;
We are counted as sheep to be slaughtered.
No, in all these things
we are more than conquerors
through Him who loved us.
For 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 8:1-2, 35-39
Amen.
What about you?
As the global pandemic escalates, what is the Lord teaching you? How do you see this in light of eternity?
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4 replies on “The other pandemic”
There is a large lump in my throat as I begin praying for the wife and family of the brother who died… and that his faithfulness will result in the conversions of multitudes. That is one way my prayers changed at S’s death… well, really the night we heard she had been taken, and we were praying for her safety and release…that her captors would see Christ so clearly in her that they would become His followers. I still pray for them. Surely seeing Stephen die influenced Paul’s immediate acceptance of the Light & Voice.
Oh, loving LORD…
Yes, Lord. Draw many to Yourself. Out of darkness into Your Light.
How many more will die for HIM? Will I ? Am I willing? I think so, but at that moment.. I pray I will. Thank you dear sister for reminding us to dwell on eternity and not this temporary life.
Grace to you, my friend.