Unintended Lessons during COVID-19
As we continue through this pandemic environment, I sometimes wonder what the long-term effects this will have on all of us. The other day I had a meeting of adults, everyone wearing masks, and I went around and squeezed out a little hand sanitizer for everyone. They all dutifully rubbed it on their hands thoroughly. Then I said, “Go ahead, shake each other’s hands.”
The reaction was somewhat funny and somewhat sad. People first pulled their hands back like they had been asked to touch something electrified. Then, as they thought about and realized that they were safe, people cautiously shook hands and then did so enthusiastically. Everyone was relieved to touch a real person.
If adults are being programmed in this way, what do you think this does to our children? One set of parents said this in response to our Biosecurity Protocols: “We are cautious to expose our kids to a dehumanizing environment that could influence our kids to live based on fear and lack of trusting God’s sovereignty. Can we really add or take away from the number of our days? Are we teaching our children that we are in control or that God is in control? What if a child from Veritas feels called to be a missionary in a country with extreme persecution and illnesses that result in death? Are we setting them up to choose safety or security over trusting God?” These are good questions. If we are not careful, we could very well pass along this message unconsciously. It is very hard to know how our kids internalize things.
Fear or Wisdom? “Be wise, my son, and bring joy to my heart, so that I can answer him who taunts me. The prudent see danger and take cover; but the simple keep going and pay the penalty.” Proverbs 27:11-12 Here we see that a right recognition of danger and appropriate measures to seek refuge is wisdom. This is what we all do, right? We wear seat belts, put our children in car seats when little, we turn off the power when working on the electrical in our house, we wear a helmet and safety harness and other equipment when using a high ropes course, etc. In fact, this safety equipment unleashes us to be more courageous when climbing, ziplining, etc.
When we do these things, we don’t pass along a high sense of paranoia with these precautions, do we? We have peace as we pass along these steps to our children. I hope you have a similar peace with your children, especially in this time of COVID. Jesus came to set us free from the fear of death. (Hebrews 2:14-15)
Can we add to or take away from the number of our days? Definitely not. Psalm 139:16 tells us that all of our days were written in God’s book before one of them came to be. But do we think that God just blindly wrote in our final day on earth? Do we think He took a dart and flung it on a calendar and where it hit, that’s it? The Bible says too much about God’s foreknowledge and His character to believe that God is that capricious.
Now that we have computers and can see how algorithms that factor in all of the possible options can calculate our most likely purchases and actions, we can begin to see and understand how God’s foreknowledge, sovereign choices and plans work together. When God wrote down my death date, He factored in everything He knew about me, my God-created personality, my life choices, and His leading in my life.
And, in His plan, He may choose to use COVID to bring me home. Need I fear this? No. The safest place for any of us to be is in the center of God’s Will. Even still, the wise man sees danger and takes refuge from it. God expects me to be wise AND courageous.
Are Personal Peace and Affluence Becoming Core Values? Nothing in the scripture affirms these as God’s values for our lives. Christian philosopher Francis Schaeffer strongly warned that when God’s people make this their core value, they are a church that can be controlled and manipulated. We can be frightened off of our mission to share Christ in the face of much-expected persecution. So, be careful how you communicate your choices in the face of this disease, especially with your children.
Some have very sound and wise decisions to be extra cautious. Since we seldom know all that people are considering, it is best to respect them as our fellow believers. For those whom others may think are not exercising due caution, neither should they be judged as uncaring for others and unloving.
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