Mum told me that as she was driving away, tears were streaming down her face.
She had just driven me from my quiet country life in Griffith to the exciting new world of University and on-campus living. I couldn’t wait to see the end of her because she had been extremely annoying during the previous few weeks as she was dealing with the reality of losing her firstborn son to the big city. And then she was gone.
Everything was new. New people, new university, new bedroom, new experiences. Exciting but stressful. Disruption.
So a few weeks later when my college friend Dave invited me to do some Bible studies to investigate the Christian faith, I was open to it. It was just one more new thing to explore.
Stop and consider: Can you think of a time in your life where your usual patterns were disrupted and some positive outcome followed?
The early church in Jerusalem was disrupted after the stoning of Stephen in Acts 7 ... “a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered...” (Acts 8:1).
But again, this disruption served God's purposes to advance the gospel. “Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.” (Acts 8:4)
The current Coronavirus crisis is a tragedy of mammoth proportions. The whole world has been disrupted (I don’t need to spell out how). How might God be using this disruption to advance the gospel? Here are some thoughts.
- Refining believers. It has been easy to date for us wealthy western Christians to be worldly. To find security in our careers and our bank balances. To live for our overseas holidays and house renovations, and to find joy in fine dining and entertainment. But most of this has now been stripped away. And what are we left with? God and his Sovereign plan to redeem this broken, greedy and sick world through Jesus. Suddenly we believe God’s word a whole lot more and the hope of heaven is shining more brightly.
- An opportunity for Christians to shine. There are many good deeds for us to do at the moment. For example not just staying in contact with, and helping our family and friends (like most people do anyway), but pushing ourselves outwards to care for people who might not expect our help. This isn’t easy as we have our own struggles to deal with, but Christ’s love compels us. Another way we can shine is in our attitude to the whole situation. We can try to be a calming, patient presence. To obey the spirit of the law not just the letter of the law. This is behaviour that is appropriate for people who believe in a God who is in control, appoints human governments for our good and who has been extremely patient with us.
- Emboldening us to share the gospel. As our own faith is refined and we lovingly reach out to non Christian friends, family and work colleagues, now is a good time to share the good news of Jesus.
- Last week I heard of a young city worker who went out of his way to call his work colleagues who were working from home to see how they were doing. He offered to pray for them and many who had previously been closed to Spiritual things were now happy to be prayed for.
- A Christian woman who works for one of the big banks asked her work colleague if she was anxious about the current situation. She then shared the comfort she has in knowing Jesus Christ and they chatted about ‘religion’. The Christian woman then asked her colleague if she would be interested in reading the Bible for a time each week via video chat. Her colleague is currently considering this offer.
Disruption isn’t easy for anyone, especially as we fear for our oldest and dearest. But somehow, God in his sovereignty is able to use this situation to advance the gospel. He refines our faith through it, it’s a chance for His love to shine brightly through us, and there are more opportunities to share the good news of Jesus.... Just like my friend Dave did with me, all those years ago when my life was disrupted when I moved to the big city.
Action Ideas:
- If you haven't already, sign up to receive a short message of encouragement to share Jesus (a Rocket), weekly on Monday mornings. It's in a similar format to this article.
- Join a City Bible Forum Evangelistic Prayer Team with other Christian workers to talk and pray for your work places and colleagues (via online group chat). You are not alone.
- Write down a list of non Christian family, friends and work colleagues who you haven’t spoken to for a while and plan to call them over the coming weeks and months for a chat.
- Email an outreach video talk to your contacts who might be open to watching. Watch it first to see with whom it might resonate. Here are two video talks that the City Bible Forum has produced recently aimed at workers (13 minutes each).
- Sam Chan on The fear of the future.
- Simon Manchester on A sure refuge in times of trouble (Easter talk).
Pray: Dear Lord, thank you that you are refining my faith through this crisis. Please strengthen me to love other people during this stressful time, and show me how. Please give me boldness, by the Holy Spirit, to talk about the bigger questions of life with my friends, family and work colleagues and to point people to your Word. AMEN.
