love in the time of Corona
I remember thinking back in March “People are freaking out about nothing. in a week or two everyone will have forgotten about this virus”. Then, when things started shutting down “Wow, this is actually a bigger deal than I thought. Still, in a month it will be over”. But one month later, it wasn’t over, it was worse. Now the number of cases is higher than ever, and it seems like it will never end. I have been lucky, I was able to keep working through the virus and none of my close friends or family have gotten sick. Millions of others all across the world haven’t had the same luck.
It’s strange to know that you are in the middle of a major historical event while it’s happening. Watching the world respond to a global pandemic and realizing that it is an event that will likely be talked about for generations to come. Now, maybe something much more detrimental will happen in the next decade and completely overshadow the virus of 2020, but I hope not. Either way, realizing that I am witnessing a soon-to-be historical event firsthand has motivated me to stop and pay more attention to what is happening around me.
The things that I see online make me think that surely the United States is on the verge of complete collapse. The government issues a stay at home order, businesses shut down, people can’t get haircuts, tension start to rise, and then the unjust death of George Floyd pushes people over the edge. Protests and Riots break out all across the country, and everyone suddenly has something divisive to say. But the pandemic isn’t over, so the number of cases rise, and the government makes masks mandatory. And now, somehow, we have managed to take a global pandemic and turn it into a political argument. Left vs. Right, Trump vs. Biden, mask wearers vs. conspiracy theorists, People seem ready to kill each other over differing viewpoints, and everyone thinks that they are the good guy.
People are at war with each other over things that should be bringing them together. I don’t know who to blame: the media, the government, the radical left, the alt right, the police, the illuminati, China, 5G signals, Tik Tok? Maybe everyone’s at fault, or maybe no one is, but it doesn’t really matter. The most important thing right now is that we bring an end to the hate, and the only way to kill hate is with love. I know it sounds like something from a cheesy kids movie, and that because it is something from a cheesy kids movie. In fact, just about every kids movie, tv show, and book will find some way to teach the same lesson: Love is stronger than Hate. But for some reason this amazing message that we hear over and over again as children gets forgotten as we grow up.
Most of us probably think we are pretty good at loving people. The only people we don’t love are those jerks who don’t love us. But it’s easy to love people who already love you, and I’m not talking about easy love, I’m talking about Agape love, unconditional love, love you have to choose and fight to keep up. That’s the love that will make a difference. Loving someone who just gave you a present is great and we need to show love to the people who love us, but loving someone who just insulted you, or spit on you, or beat you, that kind of love has the power to move mountains. That kind of love is only found in Christ.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?”
Mathew 5:43-47
