Three Valuable Gifts We Have Been Given in This Season of Pandemic
This COVID19 pandemic has caused much chaos in the world, in such a short period of time. The world is on lockdown, and a spirit of fear is causing havoc all over the place. Businesses are closing. Economies are failing. Death and disease are on everyone’s tongue, while depression and loneliness are setting into hearts. Yet, I do not believe everything is as bad as some people are projecting them to be. In fact, I believe that in God’s redemption of all things, there is an underlying hopefulness that many people are feeling in this season. In that spirit, the Lord spoke to me about three valuable gifts He has given us during this season of pandemic, if we will take the time to utilize them.
1. Time
One of the biggest complaints I hear from Christians all the time, and on every continent I travel to, is “I want to pray…” or “I want to read my bible, but I just don’t have the time.” However, one of the upsides to self-isolation and global lockdown is that you have been given the gift of time, to do with as you please.
You have been given a gift, which, if taken advantage of, will help you to grow your personal walk with the Lord in deeper ways than you can imagine. This is what I shared in my last post, concerning three ways you can grow your relationship with God during this season.
You have time for the secret place.
As I have shared elsewhere, there came a point in my own life when I was desperate to grow in hearing God’s voice and abiding in the secret place with Him. Fortunately, it came at another point in my life where I was given the gift of time. I was living in Haiti, house-sitting for some furloughed missionaries for a few months, and could not speak the language. After my translator/assistant would go home around 4pm every day, I was alone. Deciding to take advantage of the situation, I sat on the balcony every night with a journal in hand, and prayed, refusing to leave that place until I was certain I heard the voice of God. As time went on, I gained more confidence of what I was hearing, and have kept up the practice of prayer journaling ever since.
If you want to learn to hear God’s voice and abide in the secret place, now is the perfect time to do so!
You have time to read.
Many times in the past, I have tried to do a bible-in-a-year reading plan, only to get to Leviticus and give up. Now, I have read the entire bible, multiple times over the years, but not usually in big chunks. Already, in this season however, I have read entire books of the Bible in one or two sittings. I have also spent a lot of time reading a great biography on William Branham, and invested time in taking Logos MobileED courses. In seasons like this you have the opportunity to really dive in, read, study, and grow yourself, if you will use it.
We have to utilize the gift of time.
If we are honest with ourselves, the truth is that even when we are not in a crisis, most of us have time for our spirituality, we simply do not make it a priority. In this season, however, I want to encourage you, do not waste this precious gift God is giving you. Turn off Netflix, and stop the endless facebook scrolling. Do something that is going to benefit you!
2. Financial Accountability
Another gift we have been given through this crisis, although not nearly as comfortable as the gift of time, is the ability to take a close look at our finances and eliminate a lot of fluff. As many people are getting cut back on hours and pay, or even fired from their jobs, it is giving us a reason to pause and not just look at the national or global economy, but also our family economic status.
As we look at what are necessary expenses versus what is an extra luxury that we don’t need, many of us are finding that the comfort bubbles we live in are not sustainable. This isn’t just big expenses, either. I have talked to friends who are taking a deep look at whether they actually need subscriptions to Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, AppleTV+ and a YouTube streaming service. At what point are we throwing our money at things which are unnecessary?
Now, I am not saying that comforts and little luxuries are bad. I am simply saying as we take account of where our money is going as things get tight, we will all likely find areas of excess that need to be cut back on.
What about charity?
When we look at the financial crisis following closely behind this pandemic, another thing that goes out the window fast is our charitable giving. I have heard from many pastors who are struggling to pay church bills and ministry expenses because tithes and offerings were the first thing to go when we went on lockdown.
The same thing is definitely true for those of us on the mission field, living completely on support. My family has lost a significant amount of support over the last month, as many of our donors are struggling to get by.
My question, however, is about our calling to be faithful to finance God’s Kingdom. As we look at our financial situations as families, we must decide if tithing and supporting churches and ministries is a “first priority” for us, or only something we do when we are living in abundance.
I am not writing this to shame anyone into giving their tithes and offering. I am saying that we have each been given the gift of financial examination, and we ought to use it. (Matthew 6:21)
3. Social Media and Technology
Another gift that too many of us take for granted, a lot of times, is the gift of social media and technology. It has been so ingrained in our daily lives for the past decade, that we think nothing of moving from one technological item to another. For instance, I wake up and make coffee first thing. Then I grab my iPad and open the Day One Journal app and type out my daily prayer journal with the Lord. From there, I open my phone and check WhatsApp and Facebook messages while I eat breakfast. I’ll check the news on Apple News or another phone app. Then I’ll move over to my computer to work on whatever the day holds. Today, that meant recording a sermon for one of our ministry partner’s Easter Convention online, then getting this blog posted to WordPress.
None of these things are abnormal in our daily lives, however, as believers, we must come to the conclusion that these things are gifts God intends us to use for His purposes; gifts that the earliest disciples couldn’t have even imagined.
What is incredible – and which was impossible just a few years ago – is that as soon as churches were told to close for a season, we all moved online and simply kept going. I am tuning in, every week, to the online services of some small, village churches in Africa, broadcasting on Facebook live. I am tuning into entire conferences being streamed from the U.S. I am seeing new online courses popping up every day. And these are all things I am utilizing myself for our ministry.
A pandemic unlike any before.
Looking back at every great pandemic in the past – whether Spanish Flu a hundred years ago, or the black plague in the middle ages – I can honestly say I don’t know how anyone survived. The lack of information they had, compared to the amount of instant communication we share today is mind-boggling.
At no other point in history could humanity have been isolated in our own homes, and yet still be living in community, with face-to-face communication with friends and family. Facetime, Zoom, Skype. These are gifts to this generation.
Gifts for the Kingdom of God
They are also gifts that I feel very strongly, God wants us to use for His Kingdom and His glory. I am seeing a stark contrast in my facebook feeds between my ministry-leadership friends, and my unbeliever friends. The ministry leaders are doing their best to share words of encouragement and live video teachings to bring people’s faith to Jesus. The unbelievers are discussing how to order more beer from Alexa, and posting endless rants about the government or other pet issues.
It is the middle ground that has caught my attention though. It is the people who are believers, but not “professional” ministers. I am seeing so many of them trying to step up and use social media to lift up Jesus, while so many others are getting lost in posting quiz results, TicTok lip syncs, memes, and forwards, that simply take up time and space.
Just as we need to analyze how we spend our time and our finances, we also need to take a look at how we are utilizing social media and what we are promoting with this gift.
A Personal Rebuke
This morning, the Lord rebuked me for my own online activities. Despite the fact that I am constantly blogging, doing live videos, and sharing encouraging messages in personal communications, yesterday I also engaged in a long, back-and-forth discussion…argument maybe… about politics and religion, and whether the government has a right to tell churches to close. This morning, however, the Lord spoke very clearly to me, saying, “That is not the message you are called to carry. Yours must be voice for salvation, healing and deliverance. That is your message: Christ alone.”
If we are to recognize that social media is a gift, and an extension of our voices and our personalities, we must be conscious of how we are representing ourselves and our Savior, when so many people are simply looking for online distractions from reality.
This is a Call to Mindfulness
Obviously, you have the choice to decide how you live your life in lockdown. I am simply making some suggestions. As believers, however, I think there is a clear call on us, biblically, to be mindful of what we do. We are called to be people who redeem the time, steward resources well, and lift up Jesus in all things. In this season, we have been given these gifts. Let us be those who use them for His glory!
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