The Christian Response to the Coronavirus
The Necessity of Faith
Monday, April 20, 2020
As we walk by faith and not by sight, God will consistently reveal to us His grace, His love, His strength and His mercy. As we move from fear to faith, God will shower us with a renewed sense of purpose, possibilities, and perseverance. I don’t want your faith to falter. I want your faith to grow. This week, I want you to get a “faith check-up.” Why? Because true faith will always have you moving toward God’s perfect will for your life and toward experiencing God’s perfect peace. Hebrews 6:1 tells us: “Therefore, leaving the principles of the Doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance and of faith toward God.” If we don’t grow our faith, we will find ourselves going backwards. Listen, it is dangerous to drive backwards.
“True faith,” says Pastor Warren Wiersbe, “is confident obedience in God’s word in spite of circumstances and consequences.” Here is how this kind of bold faith operates. God speaks and we hear His word. We trust His word and respond to it regardless of the circumstances and consequences. For example, it was the three Hebrew boys’ faith in God whereby they were not afraid of the consequences of being placed in the fiery furnace. They had a bold conviction that the God they served was able. Yes, they believed that “God is able.” This coronavirus is testing our faith in God. Many people’s faith is weak and trembling. My faith says that whatever the circumstances and consequences, we must trust and obey. The unsaved people don’t understand true Bible faith, probably because it sees too little faith in action in the church today. Hebrews 11:1 gives us a description of faith: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” The word substance means to stand under or to support a solid rock, not quicksand. A solid faith will move you forward and onward. A quicksand faith, will have you sinking in doubt and despair. Faith is the confidence of things hoped for.
I am praying that you will start off your Monday by having confidence in the Christ. The word evidence merely means conviction. This is the inward conviction that what God has promised, He will perform. The Bethel Missionary Baptist Church is celebrating 150 years as a church. I have been blessed to pastor this church close to thirty-four (34) years. This year is an interesting year because the coronavirus is testing our faith. Pray for me because I still believe that what God brings us to, God is able to carry us through. I am praying that our faithful Lord will strengthen our faith. The Lord will. He promised that He would in 1 John 5:14-15: “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us: and if we know that He hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.” I don’t know how you feel about it these days, but I am going to keep the faith in the name of Jesus. Amen.
