Relying on God

Because we know all things work together for good for those who love God (Romans 8:28), we know God is using this pandemic for His purposes. He is teaching us we have been relying too much upon people to meet our spiritual needs instead of going directly to Him. We tend to reach out to other believers for support and guidance first, then we go to God, when it should be the other way around. 

We are able to worship, sing, and pray in our solitariness. We are drawn into new depths of intimacy when we are forced to communicate directly with God.  Our busyness and reliance upon other people is now reduced because we cannot meet face to face with our brothers and sisters in Christ. When we are forced apart we are more inclined to look up. This is when we begin to rely upon Him instead of each other. 

Come to the Lord in listening prayer, wait patiently, knowing He will answer. Be ready to hear. Be content in your aloneness with God for now. This will not last forever. When all returns to normal, you will one day long for these opportunities to be alone with God. 

“I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people.”

Leviticus 26:12 (NIV)  

Accountability

We are accountable to God for our actions, our thoughts, and the words we speak in person or on the internet.  Whenever we use the ability and capability to reach out and touch another human being, whether for good or ill, we will be held to account.

We are not accountable for the things others do and say, the actions of our ancestors, or the collective guilt of wrongs we personally did not participate in or approve of. If however, we were silent when we could have offered assistance, we will be held accountable for not having done so.

Repenting of and recognizing wrongs are two separate matters.  We cannot repent of something we did not personally do.  If our ancestors behaved abominably, their sin will be upon their own heads. “The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.” (Ezekiel 18:20, ESV) We can however, fully recognize a wrong that has been committed in the past or is being done in the present and work to eradicate it.  If we have participated in a sin through action, thought, word or deed, then we must repent and make amends to those we harmed.

God alone knows the heart and the motives. There is no “one size fits all” for repentance and restitution, as each situation will have its own unique set of circumstances.  Sometimes sin is not a sin of action but of inaction, when we could have done something and did not.  “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” (James 4:17, ESV).   

When we fail to love one another we are violating God's command. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-39, ESV) Jesus also said, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (John 13:34, NIV)

Contentment

“Now godliness combined with contentment brings great profit. For we have brought nothing into this world and so we cannot take a single thing out either.” 

(1 Timothy 6:6-7, NET)

Note that godliness combined with contentment brings great gain. Contentment alone does not do this. We may be quite contented watching TV or scrolling through our cell phones, even when we need to be doing something else. As human beings we have the ability to be content in our sins. But being content in our laziness, self-pity, self-deception, and self-will does not bring gain, but rather misfortune and loss.   

Some people live contented, assured lives, satisfied their rejection of God will not ultimately matter. They deceive themselves into thinking judgment and hell do not exist.  Yet one day, on judgment day, they will come face to face with a holy God and find it is too late. 

Others are content with false religions based upon what I do instead of what Jesus has done.  Self-appointed righteousness brings deadening of the soul, loss of eternal life, and an eternal punishment of suffering for my own sins, because I refused to accept the One who once suffered in my place.   

In Philippians 4:11-13 Paul wrote, “In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content—whether well fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need. I am able to do all things through Him who strengthens me.” (HCSB)

Godliness comes by knowing and walking with Jesus. He alone brings peace and contentment to my soul. Godliness combined with contentment is greatly profitable in all things.