God. Our Only Answer to the Coronavirus

Sunday, March 14, is when the corona virus pandemic flipped the religious world upside down. Tens of thousands of churches suddenly closed their doors to worship services and moved to online platforms. Many pastors began addressing their congregations on subjects like fear and worry. I was a guest speaker at a small rural church that Sunday. In my sermon I echoed the same theme. However, as my wife and I prayed day by day for our community and world, another word has come to mind – repentance.

Repentance is a Bible word that can be associated with someone standing on a street corner and holding a sign with large letters declaring “REPENT! THE END OF THE WORLD IS AT HAND!” With images like this, repentance can be viewed as condemning and not get used much. It is unfortunate, because it is actually a loving and beautiful word that is vital for times like these.

What we are facing is not just day to day worries about family, jobs or finances. This is bigger. This has the feel of something apocalyptic. World leaders and the brightest scientific minds on the planet are trying to slow and eventually stop the spread of this “unseen enemy”, as President Trump has called it. Even so, it continues to cause infections, take lives, and literally shut down entire cities and states, nation by nation. What is happening? Where is this headed? How much longer?

Jesus of Nazareth once looked into the future of the world and predicted what things like this would take place before He came again. He told His followers, “. . . there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world” (Luke 21:25-26). Jesus clearly spoke of global events that would instill fear and anxiety on the world before His return.

What is His message to all of us in a time like this? Repent. Because repentance moves the hand of God in a way that overcoming fear does not.

For God is the only one who has the power to stop the spread of this disease. He can unlock the minds of scientists and give them the information they need or simply command it to stop. Only God has the power to heal all those who have the virus. He can heal the sick and raise the dead. God has the answers the world seeks and He stands ready to respond.

What must we do to receive His help? Humble ourselves before Him and repent.

God is both just and merciful. He is just in allowing us to reject Him and suffer from the effects of going our own way. Our global pride and immorality have taken us down the wide road of destruction. Yet, God is also merciful. Because He loved the world, He sent His only Son to suffer, to die and rise again that we might be forgiven.

But to receive His mercy, we must acknowledge the evil in our hearts and repent. For it is through repentance toward God and belief in His only Son, that God will unlock His mercy and healing power on the world. God predicted that some will mock such a message, while others will humble themselves and receive it. Time is of the essence. We need His intervention quickly. Will you repent? Will you believe in the Lord Jesus and be forgiven? Will you receive His cleansing power? Will you meet His conditions to bring healing on our land?

A prayer for you - “Lord God, you are our answer! You are the world’s hope! You alone have the power to stop this virus! Humble us. Examine our hearts and point out any and all of our sin. Show us what wrongs we have committed so we can repent. We call upon you to save us and heal the nations of the world. We repent and believe! By faith we pray, in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

Where You Can Find Hope During the Coronavirus Pandemic

The title of a USA Today story read, “Holding on to hope in the coronavirus pandemic . . .” The Wall Street Journal wrote in one article, the “world’s best hope is private innovation” in fighting the virus. The Mercury News in California published an article, “Amid the corona virus shutdown, Bay Area neighbors find help and hope in each other.”

As the days continue to mount in lock downs, travel advisories and quarantines, the need for hope is increasing.

Hope is a word that can be used by elected officials, preachers and inspirational speakers and writers to motivate, encourage and elevate the spirits of people in times of crisis. Sometimes it can be tied in with optimism and positive mental attitudes.

The word is typically used in two ways. One, as a wish or desire. Two, as a fact or something with certainty. It is also important to note that hope needs to be rooted in something. It cannot be just hope in hope. Where does our hope come from? What is it tied to?

As I observe our world walking through this pandemic, I see people putting hope in scientists, each other and their inner selves to persevere through it all. At best though, this kind of a hope is simply a wish or desire.

I want to offer you a better kind of hope, one that is certain. This is a hope that is rooted in God and made available to us through Jesus, His only Son.

In the Bible it is written, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope” (Romans 15:13).

God’s hope is rooted in Himself. The hope He has is certain because He is certain. His hope is sure, because He is sure. His hope is trustworthy, because He is trustworthy.

God’s hope is beyond time. The hope we seek wants to find answers and solve problems quickly. We live in a 24-hour news cycle. Business is built on speed and convenience. God does not operate this way though, which can cause us to be frustrated. We want solutions right now, whereas God wants us to trust Him right now.

God’s hope is beyond space. The hope we seek, peers into the physical frantically looking for help. Yet God’s hope is beyond the physical and what we can see and touch.

Recently I watched a movie on the history of African slavery. In one scene a slave was chained to a whipping post and beaten to death as other slaves were forced to watch. At one point, the beaten slave began to sing, “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.” Singing these spirituals were commonplace among the slaves. They sprang from a hope in God that stood beyond what they could only see with their eyes.

Let us learn from them. God offers us a hope that is beyond climbing coronavirus cases and deaths. It is a hope beyond closed businesses, empty church sanctuaries and depleted retirement accounts.

God is able to offer us this hope because of the work of His only Son, Jesus. He died and rose again for all the wrongs we have ever done. The blood He shed provided a way for us to be forgiven. And through the cleansing of our sins and obedience to Christ, we can have hope in this world. In Jesus, God holds out hope to you. Receive it, then fix your new hope on all the certainty that comes through the risen Christ.

A prayer for you - “Lord God, help every reader to receive the hope you offer them in Jesus. May they lift their eyes off any despair around them. May they turn from trusting in themselves and the things of this world, to calling upon you with all their heart. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

When Your Boy Wants to Identify as a Girl

I have been writing this column since 2006 and there is a topic I have never written on – transgenderism. A recent story about retired basketball player Dwayne Wade and his wife Gabrielle, helped push me to write. One of their four children is 12 years old. He was given the name Zion at birth, but struggled with his gender early on, feeling more like a girl. As the years went by, they eventually met as a family to talk about Zion’s struggle and his desire to become a girl and take the new name, Zaya. Dwayne and his wife are being intentional about taking a private family matter and bringing it into the public arena. They want to support their son’s transition and other families in similar places.

I am choosing to identify Zion according to his birth gender, which I realize is a point of difference with the Wade family.

Prior to Zion’s transition, Dwayne Wade talked in an interview, about how he struggled anticipating the whole scenario happening within his family. He recounted a conversation with himself, “What are you going to do if your child comes home and says, ‘Dad, I’m not a boy. . . .I’m a trans girl.’ What are you going to do?”

When I read that, I thought how honest that was. What would a parent do? That is not something you plan for when raising a family.

A second thing I read that prompted me to write, was information about transgenderism in rural America. According to the Movement Advanced Project, three to four million people in rural areas say they are gay, lesbian, transgender or bi-sexual. Most likely there are hundreds of thousands of families in small towns grappling with children who do not feel comfortable with their birth gender, like Zion. Let me offer two points of advice.

1. Listen. A parent should provide an environment where their child can come and share anything and not feel condemned. If your child struggles with their gender, give him or her a place to talk.

2. Give wise counsel. A parent’s role is to teach and provide guidance, which is based on the source of their personal belief and value system. The Wade’s have their own way of walking through it, which will likely be different than yours.

Where would you go for help in a situation like this? Your own parents, a friend, counselor, a quick internet search? I recommend God’s Word, the Bible. God’s Word is a time-tested, proven source for absolute moral truth. It is the only standard for right and wrong and addresses gender issues. It is the logical place for any family to go.

“God created man in his own image,” the Bible says “. . . male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27). This teaches that God is the Creator of human beings and He made us into two genders. This is a theological, historical, scientific, biological and moral statement of truth. There cannot be more than two genders and the genders cannot cross over. A male will always be a male and a female will always be a female.

And after God created man and woman, what did He say? He blessed them and saw “everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good” (Genesis 1:31). He saw the genders He made, male and female, as beautiful, marvelous creations.

But after God made everything perfect, evil entered the world and corrupted all that was good. God still saw men and women as wonderfully made, but they did not see themselves that way because of their corrupt heart. When men want to live as women and women as men it is a symptom of that evil from long ago.

We must teach our children that God made them a boy or a girl and it is a beautiful thing. He did not make a mistake. He made them just as they are and it is to be celebrated. And though there may be legitimate feelings of gender confusion, let us pray, asking God to help them see the wonder in how He made them.

A prayer for you - “Lord God, help any parents or grandparents who might be struggling in how to talk with their child or grandchild, who struggles with their gender. Give them an ability to listen. Give them insight in providing wise counsel. May they help their child or grandchild see themselves as you see them and celebrate how you made them. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”