What does God Say about the Health Vs. Freedoms Dilemma?

God’s been working on my heart the past few days. I’ve been pretty busy around the property, working on the garden and taking care of my seedlings and helping my daughter get her chickens set up in their new home. I’ve been doing a little spring cleaning and the usual baking and cooking. And all the while telling myself that this work excuses me from other work. Other consideration and study and… what I most want to avoid – saying something. Speaking the truth, even if my motivation is love.

It’s the work of dealing with the conflict and the unrest that simmers around me. My least favorite thing in all of life is conflict. I’m not talking about conflict in my home, but in our relationships that have been reduced to a less-than-ideal sharing of opinions and convictions via various social media platforms.

But what’s the answer? What do we say in the middle of all the arguments about protecting health versus preserving freedoms? What do we say to the economic uncertainty and the possible breakdown of even our food systems? What are the answers to these extremely difficult questions? Shouldn’t we argue and strive over them? Aren’t they important enough? Won't presenting our valid opinions change other people's minds and be the answer to everything going wrong?

This week our pastor had us consider the life and teaching of John Bunyan, who had a sad life, to say the least. Nothing ever went Bunyan’s way, yet he made the most of his days anyway, writing when he can do nothing else. Some of that writing went down in church history, helping thousands upon thousands be strengthened in their faith through the story of Pilgrim’s Progress, even retold again and again to this day. 

So what? Why does it matter what Bunyan went through? Why should that apply to us? We are FREE. We have the right to speak up and protect our freedoms. No one can take that away from us because we are Americans. Right? Either that, or we are secure. Our health and safety is of supreme, even divine importance. Nothing is more important than protecting the safety net of medical science we’ve established in our modern world. What does that have to do with Bunyan’s world of death and disease? It was different. The two worlds can't be compared.

I’d like you to consider for a moment that maybe we don’t live in such a different world than Bunyan did. And I’d like you to consider whether our being happy, being free, having everything we could want or need available in any store or delivered the next day to our doorstep, having medical services ready any time and place to solve any health problem we could have, and plenty of tests to have even if we're feeling fine, having seventeen different activities each week to engage in and distract us from anything we don't want to think about, if all of that is really what’s best for the people who make up the body of Christ here on earth? When did we start believing that this world is heaven? That we deserve what is being held for us in the perfection of eternity – now?

Friends, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this is not our home. And what won’t be an issue in eternity is not our right to claim here. It’s not time yet. Here, Jesus promised us we would face hardship and persecution. He PROMISED it. In this world, we are in a spiritual battle against evil, and sometimes it's going to seem like evil is winning. But Jesus also said why it was okay, over and over again in the gospels. It's okay to suffer because in the end, JESUS WILL WIN. It’s okay to suffer because we’re closer to him when we face these things, things like viruses that don't follow any rules or things like governments that use hardship to strip away freedoms. Standing with Christ and obeying his instructions are how we fight and win spiritual battles. And when we stand with Christ, we change. We move into the head-space of Christ as we become hardier, as we don’t get everything the way we want it to be, as we learn to appreciate the way it is now versus the way it will be in eternity. And God wants us to complete this hardening process, to mature to look just like Jesus. TOGETHER. We can only really accomplish his purpose together. 

Dear fellow believers, it is a blessing to suffer! It is a privilege! It is good for us to face opposition to our faith. To trust him for our daily needs. To give the number of our days and the quality of them to his wise plan. God has a purpose in the joy and in the pain, and he won’t let either

go to waste. Don’t be afraid of this world disappointing you. It’s going to. Be more afraid of not fulfilling the purpose God’s given you to do while you’re here.

More on that! Our pastor also gave us specific verses to study to find our path through this trial. He started in 2 Corinthians 10:3-6. Look it up. Read it in a couple versions. Ask yourself what “arguments” and “lofty opinions” are coming up against the knowledge of God in our society this very day? (Don’t stick to one side, either.) What have you already heard people saying that you know doesn’t stand up to the truth of Scripture? What have you said or believed that might need amending? Which of your “captive thoughts” do you know Christ is going to reject as not of God?

As I consider these verses, I think of a few ways we can fight spiritual battles, right from our homes:

1.       Prayer, Fasting, and other spiritual disciplines

2.       Meeting needs

3.       Teaching truth

4.       Loving God and others

5.       Being willing to suffer for Christ’s sake

If we are busy with these objectives, we won’t have time to be afraid, be incensed, or judge everyone else. We won’t be obsessed with our own interests. We’ll have replaced our natural inclinations for God’s exciting purposes for our days.

Some more verses from my pastor on the subject of how to spend our time amid the crisis:

·        Hebrews 10:24-25: Consider these things. Stir each other up to love and good works. Meet together even if no one else does. Encourage each other. Do these things MORE AND MORE as the times start to look like the “Day” Jesus warned us about.

·        1 Peter 4:10-11: Use your gift. Serve. Speak God’s words. Serve in God’s strength. Give God glory.

·        Ephesians 4:15-16: Speak the truth with love as your motivation. Remember we are all one body, responsible to each other for our growth. We each must DO OUR WORK.

·        Matthew 28:18-20: Go, make disciples, baptize them, teach them to obey Christ. Keep in mind that Jesus will be here with us to the very end of this age. (This should keep us in check from our natural tendencies toward fear or pride.)

So let’s get to work! Let the world argue and worry about where everything is headed. We already know the end of the story! Let’s take this day by day and do the next right thing, letting Christ capture every thought in us before it grows into destructive weeds of fear or pride. Let’s be about his business.