Weekly Roundup: COVID-19, Part 2

With the world practicing social distancing to prevent spreading COVID-19—which, for anyone not living in 2020, basically means we’re all stuck in our houses—lots of Christian bloggers have taken to writing. When it becomes impossible to practice the usual forms of ministry—Sunday service, small groups, meet-ups, etc., bloggers put pen to paper (er, fingers to keyboard) and write!

The articles I’ve read have all hit on various themes: trusting in the sovereign hands of our Almighty God, hoping in Christ despite the circumstances, wrestling with the fear of death, evangelizing the lost during this unique opportunity, mustering courage in the face of pandemic. It’s been good for me to read, to align my sights on heaven and turn my heart again to truth. 

Below are some of the best ones I’ve read this week, as well as some oldies that give some timely truths. I hope they give you the perspective of Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:6–8
Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord—for we walk by faith, not by sight— we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.

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Jesus is King—Not the Coronavirus | Curtis Solomon | Biblical Counseling Coalition

On our drive home from school last week, my ten-year-old son asked, “Dad, do you know why Coronavirus is called Coronavirus? It’s because the virus has lots of spikes all over it, and they thought it looked like a crown. Corona is Latin for crown, so there you go.”

All Things from His Fatherly Hand | Kevin DeYoung | The Gospel Coalition

For some people God’s sovereignty sounds like nothing but raw, capricious power: “God has absolute power over all things, and you better get used to it.” That kind of thing. And that definition is true in a sense, but divine sovereignty, we must never forget, is sovereignty-for-us. As Eric Liddel’s dad remarked in Chariots of Fire, God may be a dictator, but “Aye, he is a benign, loving dictator.”

TableTalk: Fear | Various | Ligonier Ministries

Somehow, Ligonier managed to publish an entire magazine on fear for March 2020, probably as an anticipation of the growing virus threat. I liked all the articles, and especially appreciated Fear of a Changing World, Fear of Being Alone, and Fear of Disease and Disability.

What Courage Might Corona Unleash? | Marshall Segal | Desiring God

The author writes about fear of death. It’s a great piece.

When a cholera outbreak came to London, Charles Spurgeon admonished everyone in Christ,

Now is the time for all of you who love souls. You may see men more alarmed than they are already; and if they should be, mind that you avail yourselves of the opportunity of doing them good. You have the Balm of Gilead; when their wounds smart, pour it in. You know of Him who died to save; tell them of Him. Lift high the cross before their eyes. Tell them that God became man that man might be lifted to God. Tell them of Calvary, and its groans, and cries, and sweat of blood. Tell them of Jesus hanging on the cross to save sinners. Tell them that —

“There is life for a look at the Crucified One.”

Tell them that He is able to save to the uttermost all them that come unto God by Him. Tell them that He is able to save even at the eleventh hour, and to say to the dying thief, “today shalt thou be with Me in Paradise.”

Pastoring Amid Pandemic: Counsel from a Pastor in China | Mark Collins | 9Marks

We were enjoying our last few days out of the country for an annual missions conference when we first heard about a strange sickness in central China. It was late January, and none of us were eager to return from the tropical weather to cold, urban realities. To be honest, I think we all repeated the same thing to each other numerous times, “This will all blow over in a week or two.”

We were very wrong.

Your God Is Too Small | Derek Thomas | Ligonier Ministries

Are you weary? Losing faith in God’s promises? Tired in the heat of the battle? Overwhelmed by the opposition? Then what you need is a fresh glimpse of the majesty of God. Sometimes, we cannot see what is right before us and above us.

Plunge Your Mind into the Ocean of God’s Sovereignty | John Piper | Desiring God

Drink deep from Scripture upon Scripture that shouts, “God Almighty—He is God!”

Hearts Set Aflame with Certainty of the Resurrection | R.C. Sproul | Ligonier Ministries

For three days God was silent. Then He screamed. With cataclysmic power, God rolled the stone away and unleashed a paroxysm of creative energy of life, infusing it once more into the still body of Christ. Jesus’ heart began to beat, pumping glorified blood through glorified arteries, sending glorified power to muscles atrophied by death. The grave clothes could not bind Him as He rose to His feet and quit the crypt. In an instant, the mortal became immortal and death was swallowed up by victory. In a moment of history, Job’s question was answered once and for all: “If a man die, shall he live again?” Here is the watershed moment of human history, where the misery of the race is transformed into grandeur. Here the kerygma, the proclamation of the early church, was born with the cry, “He is risen.”

Photo by Jonas Jacobsson on Unsplash