Though the world has changed dramatically in the last few weeks, the call for Christians to be salt and light hasn’t. That’s one of the difficult things about our faith. The Biblical instruction is clear enough: Here’s what God is doing in the world, our call is to follow Him and, in Christ, bear witness to Jesus by sharing our faith and doing good in His name. But those Biblical instructions were given in a cultural context much different than our own.
In other words, translating between God’s word and God’s world isn’t easy. If we’d woken up this morning and seen an army of Philistines outside, well, good news, there’s like 40 chapters in the Old Testament about what to do in case of Philistines. Instead, we woke up to another day of spiking infection and death numbers, many of us with friends and family members who are vulnerable or sick, and another day on lockdown. I’ve looked through the whole concordance. “Coronavirus” isn’t in there… not even in the King James version.
And, of course, all of this seems overwhelming. What can I do? How can I help?
I want to suggest four questions that every one of us can and should answer, so that we can, as the sons of Issachar did, “understand the times” and “know what to do.” But first, let me say something about the where before we get to the what.
God determined that you and I should be in this time and this place. Let’s not ask what we can’t do, but what we can do. Where has God placed you? In what family? What community? What church? Near which business and in touch with which charity?
This is the Great Commission, in fact. In Matthew 28, Jesus issues this command to his first followers… “make disciples.” Believe it or not, at least in the original language, the word “Go” in verse 17 is not an imperative. It could, and maybe should, be translated “as you go” or “wherever you go.”
T.M. Moore, a long-time friend and adviser to Chuck Colson, called this “your personal mission field,” and once that is identified, these four questions can help us develop an action plan.
First, what’s good that we can celebrate and promote during this crisis?
As my friend Ed Stetzer shared on a recent Colson Center webinar, there are plenty of things to celebrate, promote, and even emulate. Obviously, the charitable works around us are worth our celebration and support. Soup kitchens, and homeless shelters, and others doing the hard work of victim care.
But there’s also birthdays, anniversaries, and milestones. These things are still a good part of our humanity together, and there are still ways to celebrate with others. On the inaugural SGN (or Some Good News) broadcast, former star of The Office, John Krasinski showed a video of Alabama man John Kline, visiting his bride of decades through the window of her retirement home that he’s no longer allowed to visit. Though she’s suffering from Alzheimer’s, she remembered the words of “Amazing Grace,” and they sang it together through the window.
With all the ridiculous and accusatory stuff floating around social media, maybe share this. Maybe celebrate with this couple the beauty of their life-long married love. And, of course, we can celebrate the good being done by doctors, nurses, first responders, and other medical professionals on the frontlines of this epidemic.
Here’s the second question: “What is missing that we can contribute?” At times like these, it might be easier to ask, “What’s not missing that we can’t contribute?”
In New York City, where the medical system is under severe stress, Samaritan’s Purse answered this question by setting up a field hospital in Central Park. Other Christian groups and churches are operating clinics and testing people for infection. One BreakPoint listener wrote in to tell us that she’s sewing surgical masks. I’ve read of groups providing meals to frontline medical personnel or home-bound folks, and MIT engineers posted blueprints for building cheap ventilators, for free online.
Especially now, Christians have something people desperately need and many are missing: Hope. Now of all times, we must be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks about the hope that is in us. A culture whose worship songs are “Imagine” by John Lennon and “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen is a culture missing a vertical reference point. We’ve got that, too.
Third question: What evil can we confront or stop? The obvious answer for healthcare workers is the coronavirus itself, though we all have a role to play in stopping or at least slowing the spread of the virus. Physical distancing and other precautionary measures is a way of putting love of neighbor ahead of our own desires.
On a more immediate level, we can stop the cynicism and anger. We can stop from forwarding an unhelpful message or accusation on social media. We can stop pornography from coming into our homes while so many more people are online.
Final question: What is broken that we can restore? Among the brokenness exposed in our culture by this virus is loneliness and social isolation. It’s difficult to imagine a better and easier example of Christians running towards the plague than reaching out to people like this. Relational brokenness, in our families and beyond, is an epidemic far more reaching than COVID -19. As this pandemic continues, we’ll see endless opportunities to help restore broken lives and broken livelihoods.
Restoration is the core topic of our next Colson Center short course, which starts tomorrow night, “How the Church Can Respond to Culture’s Brokenness.” Come to BreakPoint.org to see our excellent lineup of speakers and to register.
I know some of these ideas may seem too simple to be effective. Too easy. But the problem is we often dismiss the good we can do, the missing we can contribute, the evil we can fight, and the brokenness we can restore because of what we can’t do. Let’s not do that.
Publication date: April 6, 2020
Photo courtesy: Luis Melendez/Unsplash
The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of CrosswalkHeadlines.
BreakPoint is a program of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. BreakPoint commentaries offer incisive content people can't find anywhere else; content that cuts through the fog of relativism and the news cycle with truth and compassion. Founded by Chuck Colson (1931 – 2012) in 1991 as a daily radio broadcast, BreakPoint provides a Christian perspective on today's news and trends. Today, you can get it in written and a variety of audio formats: on the web, the radio, or your favorite podcast app on the go.