What if the Church treated sin as seriously as we do this virus?*
Billions of people will contract COVID-19 over the next couple years, more than 99% will survive.
Sin has a 100% death rate. Billions will die in their sins apart from Salvation in Christ.
We do all we can to keep people ‘safe’ from illness but we do try little to help people ‘get saved’ from hell – eternal separation from God.
Tell me why we are treating a virus more seriously than sin?
Let me take a stab at answering my own question. We take this virus more seriously than sin because dealing with sin is hard, messy and confronts our pride. It’s easier to point outside ourselves and say the problem is “out there somewhere” instead of pointing at ourselves and admitting the problem is “inside my own heart.”
There is nothing ‘safe’ about sin. Until the Church reorientates itself properly regarding sin, we will continue to worship a false idol called ‘safety.’
What is God doing?
God is stripping away our idols. He is revealing the bankruptcy of the people, institutions and systems we trust. He is taking away the comforts and hollow walls of affluence and safety.
In essence, God is reminding us; “You shall have not other gods before me.” – Exodus 20:3
What is the Christian response?
Repent. We admit as individuals and as a collective body of believers (the church) that we’ve enthroned ‘safety’ in the place of God. And we have swept sin under the rug.
Reorientate. We must properly order ourselves and our public theology in light of God’s revealed truth about total reality, His holiness, goodness and the reality of sin.
Live. We move forward as individual Christ followers and as the Church body by grace through faith.
(*) The Church properly defined are the redeemed in Christ – the body of believers. It is also referred to a local body of Christ-followers.
Subscribe
If you like what you read here, please subscribe. Every time I post something new, you will receive an email.
Amen
Something interesting to me is how often believers point out the sin in American society and speak of how America needs to turn back to God. They quote the “If my people who are called by my name,” passage in 2nd Chronicles.
However, even in a quick review of that passage one will see that it is not all the people in the land the passage is referring to. It is “my People… called by my name.” It is those who claim to be God’s people, believers, the church body that must humble themselves, pray, seek His face and turn from their wicked ways the passage is directed towards. If the church body will do this God will heal the land and we will be able to reach the unforgiven.
Thanks for the food for thought
John, thanks for taking the time to comment. Yes, repentance is a personal endeavor for the Christian and a corporate endeavor for the Church (body of Christ) – thus, the ‘people who are called by my name’. In a difference context, we know that repentance is part of the regeneration process where by the holy spirit convicts the non-believer of his/her sinful state (sin, righteousness and the coming judgment). Only the regenerate can ‘turn back’ to God -be it an individual or the church in a nation. Great points, John and thanks for sharing.
Live!! True truth!!
Yes ma’am!
Thanks Kathy 🙂