Some things I’ve been thinking about lately…
“There is nothing like suspense and anxiety for barricading a human's mind against the Enemy. He wants men to be concerned with what they do; our business is to keep them thinking about what will happen to them.” ― C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
Reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s The Cost of Discipleship during the most panicked public health crisis our world has collectively felt in many years makes for an interesting pairing. Mass gatherings are forbidden, my favorite pub is closed, morning traffic is great, and there’s an underlying sense of uncertainty within every interaction. Strangers in the grocery store lean just a little bit further away from each other in the aisle. Even the home churches we’ve resorted to are now up in the air. The government advises against forming groups of more than ten people but most workplaces employ more than ten people. A fear-twinged ambiguity thrives.
Sitting in my car on my lunch break (with the windows up) reading Bonhoeffer, I’m struck by his decisive language. “It is nothing else than bondage to Jesus Christ alone, completely breaking through every program, every ideal, every set of laws. No other significance is possible, since Jesus is the only significance. Beside Jesus nothing has any significance. He alone matters.” Bonhoeffer, martyr for Christ slain by Nazis in 1945 received the same grace, salvation, and instruction to obey as I have. Jesus, the same yesterday, today, and forever, bids all take up their cross and follow Him: in war-torn Germany and in pandemic-shaken USA.
At times such as these, it’s really easy to let circumstance distract from obedience. A shift out of normalcy, especially as dramatic as the last few days have been, creates a slew of excuses to get lost: feverishly checking for the latest updates, surrendering to poor habits in isolation, letting our minds churn over concerns (some very reasonable concerns) like an everlasting gobstopper, etc. But the dimensions of discipleship that Christ gave us are not altered by circumstance. Christians step up in times like these as we should step up daily. Today we are called to the same things we were called to three weeks ago, three months ago, etc.
“If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?” - Luke 9:23-25
COVID-19 doesn’t impact one iota of this. How can we take up our cross today? Here’s a couple ideas:
“And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.”
- Matthew 5:40-42
He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”
– Luke 14:12-14
“Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.”
– Proverbs 28:13
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
- Hebrews 10:23-25
Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.
- 2 Corinthians 13:11
There’s much to do. We should get started.