Limit, restrict, restrain, tie-down; this vernacular speaks of the way we may view the cap on our living. During this global pandemic, COVID-19, many parts of our lives have been restricted. Our way of life, prior to COVID-19, is no more. Our new normal is to safer-at-home, one per customer, socially distant, and so on. In a culture that has so long glorified living boundary-less, many feel this new life of restriction creates a sense of lack. God can use these limits to remind us that He has never been tied down. Nothing has ever held Him back.
1. Rather than closing us off from the world, limits open us up to communion with Christ.
As we mark yet another canceled or postponed event off our schedules, it can feel like life is being put on hold. A friend of mine joked of the irony of having a 2020 planner. These plans were going to give us new experiences, opportunities, and connections. The loss of plans may lead us to wonder what is left. Being around others is wonderful, life-giving at best. At worst, having little margin in our schedules can choke out our time with the Father. Mark illustrates how “the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in a choke the word, and it proves unfruitful” (Mark 4:18-19 ESV). Compromises in our schedule to experience one more thing or go to one more place can take the place of regular communion with our Father. During this time of social distancing, perhaps our distance from the Father can be lessened through regular and deliberate time spent with Him. Most of our schedules are lessened and many events have been marked through. What remains is an opportunity for extra time to commune with Him, and that is enough.
2. Deficiency in distractions has the ability to increase our sufficiency in Christ.
If you’ve ever tried to change their eating habits, you know that if you remove one food, you must have a replacement food to take its place. When I tried to give up coffee, my efforts were always short-lived, until I found an (albeit, less tasty) alternative. Prior to quarantine, our lives may have been filled with many activities. Some of these activities were fulfilling, but I’d venture to say many were just distractions. A distraction, in my view, is anything good that takes the attention away from that which is better. For me, weekends can be the biggest time for distractions. Pre-COVID, lots of things vied for my attention. As I have found my weekends void of many schedulable activities, I have a choice: create my own distractions or rest in the Father. I haven’t always made the conscious choice. Even at home, there are plenty of things that can distract me from the life I want to lead. The most rewarding moments I’ve had have been when I have made the choice to put aside the good for time to connect with the Father that proves to be great.
3. The shift of our “normal” is an invitation to redefine our calling.
With sympathy, I recognize that a lot of people have lost their jobs or had their jobs scaled back, due to the shutdown. As many are able to begin returning to work, we are aware that we all may have that privilege taken away or have to work in a different capacity, again. The “normal” work environment may need to be shifted, then re-shifted. If our identity is in the “normal” life we lead and then that shifts, we can begin to question our purpose. As a teacher who had to quickly transition to teach remotely, the purpose behind my work adjusted. While still teaching my students and supporting their learning, I began using my time largely to support my students’ parents. This altering was necessary but made me realize that I could have missed out on how God could use me in a fresh way if I had stuck with what a “normal” teacher does. The decision to deviate from normal makes me remember the Jews. They thought the Messiah would come one way and He actually came a different way. They expected a King of the Jews, who would rise up in power and destroy the Romans. Their reality was a Messiah who came on a lowly donkey, greeted by palm branches. The Jews now had two choices: reject the Messiah who would save them from their sins or reject Him because He didn’t come in the “normal” way they had interpreted from scripture. I am so thankful that God chose to come to seek and save the lost, even if it wasn’t the way that His children expected.
4. We are either building or dismantling a life where Christ is the cornerstone.
Just because the church building is shut off from churchgoers does not mean that Christ-followers are inhibited from building a life dependent on Christ. The church building is the place we go to hear the Word and encourage others to deepen in their relationship with God. While the building is closed, we are still charged to share with others what God has done and spur one another on. We are not immune from the call to be the church, despite the lack of physical space. The church does not end, aside from a physical meeting space. The daily choices we make in our homes and workplaces are to follow Christ’s lead or ignore it. In my own life, quarantine and the lack of consistent worship services have been extremely illuminating in pointing out places where there is space to be creative in the way I love God and others. There is this new awareness for me that in this time of shutdown, I am still becoming someone. The choice of whether or not to continue to daily seek God when I can’t worship with His children is significant. The decision to escape or connect with my God and others has ramifications. Just because there have been restrictions to my more public Christ-following walk does not mean my private walk is halted. While we may be socially distant, we don’t have to become spiritually distant.
As we live in this life of limits and uncertainty, may we lean into the promise: “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23). Each new day is an opportunity to trust the One whose love never ceases and who continues to be merciful to us. Perhaps, instead of looking at the ways in which our life has had to minimize, we can look at the exceedingly abundant ways in which the Lord has been faithful and near. Even when all is stripped away and we are left with nothing else but God, may we be able to proclaim with confidence, “He seals up the hand of every man, that all men whom He made may know it” (Job 37:7).
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