2020 The covid 19 virus hit the world with a
vengeance that in some places, is still raging. For nearly a year here in the
US people couldn’t go anywhere and didn’t see anyone. Holiday gatherings were
canceled and important family events were postponed, all travel ceased, many
became sick and many died.
If we had to
go out, we sanitized our hands, wore masks and stayed 6 feet apart, in the hope
of staying safe and not catching covid from one another. Some chose even to avoid shopping in a
supermarket, preferring to order food online and have it delivered. It was a year none of us will forget.
The
beginning of 2021 began to reveal a possible light at the end of the dark
tunnel of 2020. Vaccines were being
developed and were nearly ready for us. As
soon as they were approved, people began trying to make reservations to receive
them. Eventually, more and more people were vaccinated in the area where we
live, and began to cautiously move outside to do things. Once families began to
be vaccinated, plans were made to visit nearby kids and grandkids – and even
give and get long awaited hugs!
Surprisingly,
to me at least, there are some people who have not registered to get the
vaccine. Their reasons vary – some
younger people are afraid of longterm effects that may not show up for years; some
feel that to take a vaccine makes them guinea pigs; others claim the whole
covid 19 thing is a fraud. By not getting
a vaccine, they leave themselves exposed to getting infected by covid,
possibly giving it to others, and the worst case scenario, ending up in the hospital
very sick and possibly dying.
There is a “cure”
for covid 19 that prevents the worst case scenario, but some aren’t choosing to
take it.
On Facebook
recently, I heard a spiritual application of this very thing.
The man
being interviewed said people had often asked him why a good God would send anyone
to hell. His response was short and to
the point.
God doesn’t send anyone to hell.
Every one of us is already on our way
to hell because we sin against God. We
don’t love Him with our heart, soul, mind and strength as He commands us. We don’t obey His commands.
God says, in
the 10 Commandments (Exodus, chapter 20):
· Don’t worship idols, worship Me alone.
a. Yet we put all kinds of “idols”
before God – our jobs, our families, money, our favorite sports teams, a
boyfriend or girlfriend.
· Don’t lie.
a. Yet we call in sick when we’re not
sick; we pass the blame for something to someone else so we don’t get in
trouble; we cheat on our taxes; or our wives or husbands; we aren’t honest
about the real cost of that dress.
· Don’t steal.
a. Yet we take office supplies home that
don’t belong to us; we don’t return the tools we borrowed from a neighbor; or
the books to the library.
· Don’t covet anything that belongs to
a neighbor.
a. Yet we look at the wife or husband of
a friend and wish she/he was ours; we wish our home, or car, or vacation
destination was as nice as our friends.
· Don’t commit adultery.
a. Yet we do. How many marriages have ended because one or
the other partner committed adultery?
How many have engaged in adultery in the heart when viewing magazines or
porn on the internet? What is true for a man is also true for a woman.
b. Referring to this command from the list
of 10 Commandments in Exodus, chapter 20, Jesus said this in the Sermon on the Mount
You have heard it said that you shall
not commit adultery, but I say to you that whoever looks at a woman, with lust after
her, is to commit adultery with her in his heart.
We are all, every one of us, guilty of sins against God. And that means that hell is everyone’s destiny. God doesn’t send us to hell because we’re all already on our way there.
But the very
good news is that God provides a “cure” so that we might avoid hell.
The cure is
not a WHAT, it’s not a vaccine that will kill the sin virus in us. The cure is a WHO, Jesus Christ, God’s Son. How has Jesus counteracted the "disease" of sin and made forgiveness possible?
· Though He was God, He came to earth
as a man, and did what Adam failed to do - He obeyed God perfectly.
· He lived a perfect life, completely
keeping ALL of God’s law – which is impossible for us! Only a perfect person could satisfy God's righteous requirements.
· Jesus died on a cross for OUR
sin. Taking the penalty for your sin and
mine, He died in our place. His death
satisfied God’s wrath against sin. He
rose and sits today on the throne of heaven at the right hand of His Father.
· I receive by faith the death of Jesus
as penalty for my sin, and in place of the guilt and shame I once felt over my
sin, Jesus credits His own righteousness to my account. Forever after, I can stand before a holy God,
forgiven and cleansed because Jesus died for me.
I will still
sin as long as I live on this earth, but Jesus promises forgiveness and
restoration. He adopts me as His own
beloved child, and one day He will come for me to take me to heaven where He is
and we will never be separated.
The vaccine
that can keep us from getting the worst of the covid 19 virus – and maybe even
dying from it – is available to us all, though it isn’t effective if we don’t
take it.
Likewise, there
is a “cure” – that ensures, not our default destination – hell because of sin –
but forgiveness, acceptance, peace, in this world and heaven in the next. That “cure” is Jesus. Jesus gives us HOPE.
Jesus said:
Let not your heart be troubled: You believe
in God, believe also in Me.. . .I go to prepare a place for you, I will come
again to receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
(John’s gospel, chapter 14: verses 1;
3)
I am THE way, THE truth, and THE
life. NO ONE comes to the Father but by
Me.
(John’s gospel, chapter 14; verse 6)
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