Some Thoughts on Coronavirus
I don’t think I’ve really lived through anything like this before. Chances are that you haven’t either. It seems so surreal, like something out of science fiction or a Left Behind movie, but yet here we are.
Coronavirus is now deemed a pandemic by the World Health Organization affecting tens and tens of thousands of people across the world (at least that we know of). It’s one of those things that the conspiracy theorists seemed to be right about (no, not the one where the US started the virus to cripple China’s economy) and now we’re seeing countries lockdown and some intercontinental travel banned. Even the Lord’s favoured actor, Tom Hanks, has been affected.
It seems to be a pandemic in the airwaves too: the unending 24/7 news cycle dominating our televisions, newspapers and newsfeeds. It’s the topic of conversation, a true cultural moment.
As I write this, the Sunshine Coast hasn’t been affected majorly yet - although I’m sitting here in the Sunshine Plaza on a Thursday night, so there’s a good chance that there’s someone infected walking around unawares affecting more unaware people.
I haven’t made my mind up yet on how to take coronavirus yet. In the era of #FakeNews, we’re told to question everything. Some are blasé about the whole ordeal: it’s far less deadly than the common cold or those who die from starvation daily. Others tell me up to half the population could be infected, so quarantine yourself now, buy some toilet paper and save yourselves.
I’m traditionally a centrist, so I usually believe that truth most of the time firmly lies in the middle - amongst the shades of grey. Most of the time, I find this mindset helps me mitigate any hysteria I’m tempted to fall into. The truth is however, that I don’t know what to think and how deeply to embrace the facts that have been presented to me.
The truth is I’ve never know a world of deep conflict or fear: that’s always for the poor sods who find themselves in Middle Eastern war zones or for fictional worlds like Westeros. Any feeling towards the former is usually driven by a blend of compassion and indifference.
The sentiment that “the problem is over there”. I’ll say a prayer, shed a tear, give some money and then be on my merry way.
I’ve never been in a situation where a disease that started in a Chinese wet market could be passed on to me by the person at the next table from me where I sip my hot chocolate.
So far, I’m not fearful. But I am cautious. Cautious on what to think, believe and how to behave. The immediate future seems more disruptable than ever.
It’s fascinating to watch a world simultaneously united and divided in fear. Borders closing down, self-interested behaviors such as panic buying on the rise. It’s the doctrine of Darwinism at its finest.
The world around you is in disarray - and rightfully so.
But what are you basing your world around?
What am I basing my world around?
Things like this have a tendency to make me think about how frail life really is. How much of what we do is based on things that don’t really matter in the long-term.
Buying that thing.
Projecting to be someone you’re not.
A “chasing after the wind” as the writer of Ecclesiastes would say.
It makes me think too of the things that matter.
For the people who will struggle to pay the mortgage or rent to have a roof over their head.
For the people who will get sick. For those who will either pass away or watch their loved ones pass away before their time.
Unless you’re hardcore into eugenics, there’s not much to love about the current scenario.
So. Back to the question I asked about a minute earlier. What is your world based around?
Is it around something temporary? Or is it around something, someone eternal?
As some of you may know, I’ve chosen to center my life around a Jewish rabbi who lived 2000 years ago - one that claimed to rise from a horrendous death and then purportedly pulled it off: Jesus.
I live in the aftermath of His resurrection. It sounds ludicrous and I’ve questioned it many times. For someone who considers themself somewhat logical, I Every now and then look at this whole thing and get perplexed at how I even base my whole life off this seemingly illogical proposition.
Yet every time I knock on the substance of the eternal, I find eternal. I find truths and ways that supersede my logic and understanding. I find a God who is even more real and surreal than I could comprehend.
And this gives me the faith to trust in the truth of a God who stands eternal. Who claims to be the same yesterday, today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8)
This truth has stood the test of time. The God who holds the world in His hands has stood the test of time - and we will get through this!
Despite from the beginning of time the countless wars, climatic catastrophes, persecution, disease (this is not the first time the world has seen a pandemic) and even world that grows increasing hostile to things of faith, Christ still reigns. Humanity is still ongoing, despite itself.
Hope is still on offer even though certainty in life as we know it isn’t.
Life isn’t guaranteed. James, the brother of Jesus sums it well:
“Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.””
James 4:13-15 NKJV
Thanks for the pep talk James.
Thankfully the way of Christ is not merely following a set of rules or principles, as great they are. The way of Christ is to follow and place your trust in a living God.
This God is not absent from our struggle. He is the God of promise, the God of hope. And whether He protects you from the virus, heals you from the virus or for some reason you suffer through the virus, He promises to be present.
Some of the most comforting words I think Christ said were in the lead up to His impending crucifixion to a group of disciples who were sketchy on what exactly the future held. He gives them instructions, encouragement and a blueprint for the future. Jesus ends his leader’s meeting this way:
““I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”” John 16:33 NIV
Take heart. I have overcome the world.
Not only can the eternal be the center of our world, but He overcomes it.
And personally, that is enough for me. My Saviour says take heart.
It’s almost like a naive confidence in the face of danger. But one that is founded because He is eternal. He’s never let me down yet and He won’t start now.
The coronavirus is finite. Like the bubonic plague, SARS, both world wars, Osama Bin Laden; this too shall pass.
And He shall not. His words of encouragement to his disciples 2000 years ago still ring true for us:
“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” Matthew 24:35 NIV
So wash your hands, follow the doctor’s orders, obey government commands as necessary - and be considerate with your TP usage.
But take heart my friend, for He isn’t overwhelmed or surprised. He has overcome the world.