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Rita's
Tuesday Blog:
A Way In The Wilderness |
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God will make a way
even where there seems to be no way.
"I will even make a way in the wilderness,
and rivers in the desert."
Isaiah 43:19
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March 17, 2020: Coronavirus
Part Two: How Should We React to Others?
HashTags: #fear #Covd19 #Coronavirus #RitaMoritz
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Matthew 22:39
“ “And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy
neighbour as thyself.”
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In Matthew 22, one of the
Pharisees asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was.
Jesus told him it was that we were to love God with all
our heart, soul, and mind. He said it was the “first and
greatest commandment.”
Then Jesus added that the second commandment was
similar…it was “to love our neighbors as ourselves”
(Matthew 22:39). He added that the entire law of the
prophets was contained in those two things.
As Christians facing some hard days ahead with the
Coronavirus, how can we put it into action? I think
Colossians 3:12 sums it up well with mercy, kindness,
humbleness, meekness, and longsuffering (or patience).
It’s unlikely you and I are going to buy up needed
supplies and then cheat people by selling them at a
profit. But showing love to our neighbors is more than
that.
We can show love by being longsuffering (patient) with
people who are frightened or who don’t agree with what
we’ve decided to do in the face of this new virus. We
can speak gently and show concern.
Humbleness and meekness might also mean we don’t
endanger others just because we ourselves are not likely
to become seriously ill from the Coronavirus. While we
might be fine going anywhere we choose, the people we
could infect might not be.
Mercy and kindness mean we remember others might be
vulnerable. They mean we don’t touch someone’s baby,
don’t ignore the precautions suggested by the CDC, and
don’t go places unless it’s necessary.
Loving others as ourselves means we don’t buy up all the
supplies of things that might be needed. But besides the
things love requires us to not do, it also requires some
action.
It means we check on family, neighbors and other people
we know who might be high risk and in need. It might
mean going to get someone’s groceries or medicine.
It might mean sharing from our own abundance with others
who don’t have what they need. Now isn’t the time to
stockpile dozens of packages of basic things.
Some simple things for me to consider, for you to
consider. When I take our Biblical response to fear and
add it to our Biblical responsibility, it reminds me of
the Serenity Prayer, which says, “God, grant me the
serenity to accept what I cannot change, the courage to
change what I can, and the wisdom to know the
difference.”
Challenge for Today: What might happen if, just
for today, you and I let go of fear and, in mercy, loved
our neighbors as ourselves?
Father, all the news about this Coronavirus are
frightening to me. Help me to take that fear to you and
then to trust You. Help me then to think about my
neighbors during these hard days.
If you want to talk about this blog post, send me your
phone number in a private FB message to:
Rita on
Facebook
or in an email to:
rita@ritamoritz.com,
and I’ll call you. In the meantime, be safe.
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