Throughout the course of the COVID-19 outbreak, we have found ourselves awaiting, with great anticipation, a return to normalcy. I have mentioned in several sermons that I am ready for a return to normalcy. I have found myself sitting in my dark office wishing for a return to normalcy. I’ve now typed three sentences that end with a “return to normalcy” (well, now make that four). The more I repeat the words “return to normalcy”, the more I find them boring, cold, and empty.
The dreaded “return to normalcy” has quickly become equivalent to phrases such as “I don’t know. Where do you want to eat”?, “Just keep your head up”, or “Let go and let God”: all of which are well-meaning words that we string together when we don’t have much else to say.
I am happy to admit that I don’t want to return to normalcy. By the way, I want Thai food, I only keep my head down when I’m praying or sleeping, and I don’t believe we’re called to sit back in our faith (Ephesians 6:13-18).
For the record, I do understand that sometimes we use that dreaded phrase to describe our desire to resume meeting together corporately for worship. To that end, I say “Amen”! If that is what we mean by a “return to normalcy”, then I want to be as “normal” as possible.
However, my prayer throughout this experience is that we do not return the same. If you are a church member (WFBC member or a member of another church), how has this outbreak affected your spiritual walk? How have you communed with God during this experience? Has anything changed? What have we learned through this strange and unprecedented time?
Will revival break out across our country as a result of COVID-19? I don’t know…
…but I do know this; revival will not come as a result of “let go and let God”. It will come through Gospel declaration and proclamation from the local church in their respective communities. My prayer is that our churches come back with a renewed sense of urgency for the Kingdom. My prayer is that we resume our normal routine but with a hunger and thirst for disciple-making like never before. My prayer is that we look back at this outbreak as the greatest thing to happen to our churches (Romans 8:28).
I don’t want Williamston First Baptist Church or any other church to return the same. I earnestly pray that we return with a heart eager to forgive, hands ready to work, and a spirit longing for the Kingdom of God. I pray that we are bored with “normal”. I pray that we are sick of “normal”. I pray that are awakened out of “normal”.
When a deadly plague nearly destroyed Rome from 250-260 A.D., Cyprian of Carthage called it “profitable as proof of faith”. He encouraged his fellow believers to “embrace the benefit of the occasion”. They certainly did! Christianity experienced an explosion as a result of this pandemic! Was it a result of mankind fearing death and “getting right with the Lord”? Perhaps. However, the historian Pontianus wrote of this event: “Good was done to all men, not merely to the household of the faith”. Emperor Julian was annoyed by the love and care that Christians showed to pagans during this time.
May we embrace an attitude like Cyprian and may we be an annoyance to Julian.
As we stir up one another to love and perform good works (Hebrews 10:24), may we never forget our primary directive and calling: to glorify God through disciple-making. Consider the fullness of the Great Commission:
“And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth (the supremacy of Christ). Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you (the command of Christ); and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age (the presence of Christ).” - Matthew 28:19-20 (NASB)
Christ is working in and through us (His presence) to make disciples of all nations (His command) and the mission of God (Psalm 67) will not fail (His supremacy). If we are not prepared to pursue this directive at all costs to ourselves, do we want to “return to normalcy”?
Blessings,
Trey