Do you remember 2019?

      Do you remember the year 2019? Back in that time we hugged our friends and our family. We didn't know what social distancing was and we certainly didn't own a mask. We probably had to think what the CDC stood for and we had never been to their website. Churches had cover dish dinners. We shook hands and sit right next to each other. Stores were open normal hours and restaurants filled every seat. We went to movies and concerts. We went to Friday night football games at the high school and the band marched at halftime. Professional athletes reacted to actual crowds and not piped in crowd noise. Students went to school everyday and did social activities. People went on cruises and flew in airplanes. If you needed to go to the doctor or the ER, you just went. We wished the DMV would take appointments so we didn't have to spend hours in line. You could walk down any aisle you wanted at Walmart and you could sit down to eat at all the fast food places. There was parades and fireworks shows for every holiday. You could buy a bottle of hand sanitizer without having to put a kidney on eBay. Every grocery store, convenience store and department store kept Clorox in stock. People went to work everyday. The news reported news and not medical reports. There was more than enough paper towels and toilet paper for everyone. When you sneezed people just said, "Bless you!" instead of running away. If you coughed someone would say, "Allergies?" and you would shake your head yes. You could tell if your waitress was smiling when you asked for a fourth refill of your tea. People were happier and friendlier then. It was the good old days. 

     We live in 2020 though and things are different. Everywhere you go there are people in masks. Even

in banks where they used to have a no mask policy. Everyone can tell you that social distance is six feet. You have to call to make sure the restaurant or store you want to go to is still open. You can clear a room with a cough. Churches are meeting online, in parking lots and on occasion inside. There are no cover dish dinners and waves instead of handshakes. Students are remote learning, people are working from home and many worship from home too. Everything closes early and opens late to give employees time to sanitize every inch of their business. It takes you jumping through four hoops and cutting a mile of red tape to get to go to the doctor or the ER. You can't visit the nursing homes or hospitals. There are no movies, concerts, parades, fireworks, school sports or hugs. Families are not gathering. You are afraid to sneeze in public. Everywhere you go has a set of rules for you to follow while you are there.  Most people have the CDC or their local health department's website in their favorites list.  People are sad, mad, lonely, scared, confused and starving for human contact.  

     Next year will be 2021 and it will be a combination of the past two years. Some will continue to wear their masks and spray Lysol everywhere they go. Some students will still do remote learning. People will go less places and business will keep some of their new rules. Churches will do their ministries in different ways. Many church members have found they like the convenience of online worship and will not return to the church building. Schools will keep students separated more. Some businesses will keep their extra cleaning rituals. Many workers will continue to work from home. Some small businesses will never be able to open their doors again. People will still be sad, mad, lonely, scared, confused and desire human contact. 

     Why is this new world we live in not as happy of a place as our old world? For starters there is no consistent information. If you ask four health experts about wearing masks you will get four answers. One will tell you that masks are such life savors that if the passengers on the Titanic would have wore them they would have all survived. One will say that it will keep viruses from spreading. Another will tell you that mask only help so much and can't guarantee that you will not get a virus. The last one will tell you that they cause more harm that they do good. Confusing right? What about the church? The church should give you a united answer, right? The church is even more confusing. Some put more faith in a mask then they do God. Others just say that God is bigger than the any virus and if you have strong faith you don't need a mask or to take any precautions. At least statistics can give you a right answers. They say numbers don't lie. While that is true, but it is also true that you can make numbers say what you want them to say. So, the statistics say what the person giving the statistics want them to say which adds to the confusion. Even the reaction you get wearing a mask makes you confused. When you wear one all the people not wearing one look at you like you are bowing down to the government. When you don't wear one all the people who are wearing one look at you like you are trying to commit mass murder. What are you supposed to do?

      I think it is important for us to look to the scriptures in times like these. If we look at 1 Corinthians 14:33 we find that God is not the author of confusion. That means that all this confusion comes from somewhere else. I don't mean one political party or the other. I don't mean one medical expert or the other. I mean this confusion is coming from Satan. If he can keep Christians confused they focus on the confusion and not God. They spend more time trying to unconfuse the confusion than they do studying God's word. They spend more time debating their side of the confusion and less time sharing the Gospel. Confusion brings our the worst in people. They get angry, they get mad, they get stubborn, they get spiteful and they look like the world and not like Christ. Instead of letting God take their fear, anger, confusion and worries away they hold on to them and let them grow. They don't act in faith and love. They act in fear and anger. I picture Satan sitting at home on the couch laughing until he spits milk out his nose at all the confusion going on right now. He is giving his demons high-fives because so many Christians have lost focus on God. He wakes up every morning doing his happy dance because so many Christians are at each other's throat. He can't wait for Sunday to roll around because he knows many Christians aren't worshipping because of their fears, worries and anger. He is happy because a virus that should be bringing Christians closer to each other and to God is dividing Christians and leading them away from God. In other words, Satan is winning. 

     What should a Christian be doing during this time? Should they take the recommended precautions?

She they go about their business with no precautions because they have faith in God? Should they find a room and hideout until everything is over? I think we find our answer in the scriptures. 2 Timothy 1:7 tells us that God didn't give us the spirit of fear but of power, love and sound mind. Sound mind can be translated to self control or self discipline.  So, we are not to fear this virus or any virus. We are not to fear anything in this world. On the other hand, James 1:5 tells us that if we lack wisdom we should ask God for more. This wisdom helps us navigate the fine line between fear and carelessness. Even though we don't fear cars we have the wisdom not to jump out in front of one. Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness to do some carless things. Jesus reminded him in Matthew 4:7 that we are not to test God. From these scriptures we see that taking precautions isn't a sign of little faith but making use of the wisdom God gives us. We are not to put more faith in the precautions than God because that would be making the precautions our God. Remember the commandment that tells us we can't put other gods before God? We have to trust God to give us the wisdom to do what is right for us. We can't judge others because the precautions they take are more or less than the ones we take. For example: Jesus told Peter to get out of the boat to walk on water to Him. He didn't tell everyone to. God led David to fight Goliath and not any of the soldiers in the army. God knows our bodies, our anxieties, our worries, our fears, our health and our heart better than anyone else. So, instead of passing judgement on people's mask wearing habits maybe we should be seeking God's guidance in our own lives.