Does my response to COVID-19 honor God?

Yesterday I wrote a post on FB about all the conflicting opinions between qualified “experts” in regard to COVID-19 and the handling of the pandemic. Hindsight is always 20/20 they say – but even as we are approaching some areas of dealing with the pandemic as “hindsight” – there is so much disagreement as to what should or shouldn’t be done – and about what could have been done and wasn’t. Everyone has an opinion. Everyone thinks THEIR opinion and theirs alone is the right one. It gets awfully confusing.

I don’t find myself really needing definitive answers. I’m content to live by faith instead of sight. But I desperately want my attitudes and opinions to be pleasing to the Lord. So, in my quiet time yesterday I asked: “Abba, how do You want me, Your beloved daughter, to respond to what is going on?” (Please don’t think I’m being presumptuous to refer to myself as His beloved daughter. He taught me to call myself that.) Yesterday I asked. This morning He answered. Don’t you love it when God answers our questions and His answer hits you as dramatically as a bolt of lightning? Titus 3:1-2 bolted from the pages of my Bible this morning and electrified my heart.

Okay, Lord. I asked. You answered.

(      The Lord wants me to be law abiding. (“subject to rulers and authorities, obedient…”).  The apostle Paul wrote this letter to Titus when he was pastoring a small congregation in Crete. A Greek historian wrote about the people of Crete: “they were notoriously turbulent and quarrelsome and impatient of all authority.”  Sounds a lot like current day United States, doesn’t it?

So how can I be law abiding where COVID-19 is concerned? Obey the CDC guidelines? Stay at home as much as possible? Wear a face mask when I must go to the store? Restrict my trips to the store to only the essential? Social distance in lines and aisles?

I may not agree with some of the CDC guidelines – I may be tired of staying home all the time – I may hate wearing a face mask – I may not want my freedom to go where I want, when I want imposed upon – but, guess what … what I want or don’t want isn’t what matters – if I am going to be a law abiding citizen - if I am going to obey God's word -  I must comply with the quarantine guidelines. I think the Word is pretty plain when it says “be subject to rulers and authorities ...obey.”

(    The Lord wants me to be active in service (“ready to do whatever is good”). How can I do that when I’m under social distancing restrictions? It doesn’t have to be big things – just a phone call to someone who is lonely is a service. An encouraging comment to a negative post on social media is a service sometimes. Letting someone know you believe in them and cheering them on is a service. Praying – do you have any idea how much of a service it is to pray for someone?

(   The Lord wants me to be careful in my speech (“slander no one”). Oh mercy – has there ever been a time when people so freely say terrible things about one another? I hid a post on FB the other day because it called our president and first lady vulgar, slanderous names. Even if you can’t stand Donald Trump, why would you post something like that? God wants our speech to honor Him! 

When I visit my son in Ohio, with the first words I speak, people know I’m from the South. Dear believer – your speech ought to reflect Who you belong to the minute the words come out of your mouth!

(     The Lord wants me to be peaceable and considerate. In other words, tolerant.  I am certainly to stand up for the principles I believe to be right, but I am never to be so opinionated as to believe that no other way than mine is right. I must allow others to have the same right to have their convictions as I claim for myself. I am to be kind in expressing an opinion – not argumentative.

(    The Lord wants me to show true humility toward all men. That simply means I think of others before myself. Trust me, that’s a lot easier said than done. Just before God led me to this passage in Titus this morning, I had sat before Him in repentance over pride, arrogance and ego that had flared in me yesterday. Humility doesn’t come naturally!