Millions of people around the world are working from home in response to COVID-19. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is now among them.
He announced this morning, “Over the last twenty-four hours I have developed mild symptoms and tested positive for coronavirus. I am now self-isolating, but I will continue to lead the government’s response via video-conference as we fight this virus. Together we will beat this.”
Dr. Ian Lipkin is another surprising coronavirus patient. The medical adviser behind the pandemic movie Contagion told reporters: “If it can hit me, it can hit anybody. That’s the message I want to convey.”
Coronavirus is not the only health concern of our day: Dr. Mehmet Oz told Fox News yesterday that worry can lead to a “panic attack” which “is devastating.”
As anxiety about the future continues to escalate, let’s consider three ways God wants to calm our fears with the assurance of his redemptive providence and grace.
One: The virus is reminding us of our mortality
In his response to World War II, C. S. Lewis noted: “All the animal life in us, all schemes of happiness that centered in this world, were always doomed to a final frustration. In ordinary times only a wise man can realize it. Now the stupidest of us know. We see unmistakably the sort of universe in which we have all along been living and must come to terms with it.”
Celebrities, politicians, and young people who have made news by downplaying the significance of the virus are now making news with their public apologies. As I wrote in a website article this morning, such repentance is an essential step to experiencing God’s forgiving grace and transforming power.
For twenty centuries, God’s word has reminded us that “you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes” (James 4:14). Now we are face to face with this reality.
The good news is that God is using the fact of our mortality…
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