Loving one another in a crazy Covid world
How can Scripture help us learn to love in this confusing and crazy time of the Covid pandemic?
As Christians, we are called to love one another. I John 4:8 says it very clearly: “The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” Jesus said in John 13:35 “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
This time of the Covid pandemic has been a challenge to the Christians’ application of this command. It has become confusing to know exactly what it means to love each other. Everyone has a different opinion about Covid related matters, and often those opinions are opposite of one another. There are many studies that support each opinion, so discerning what is actually true about this pandemic is fairly impossible. But we all have very strong opinions anyway. What is a Christian to do if they want to obey God and love one another? How do we figure out love in a confusing time? I am concerned that we(myself included), are not loving each other as we ought.
I Peter 1:3 says that ‘His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.” How do we have true knowledge of Him who called us (the Father)? Through the Scriptures. So, everything we need to navigate life is found in the pages of Scriptures. If we believe God is true and His word is true and sufficient, then we must believe that the answer to how we should love one another in confusing times is in the Scriptures. Let’s look to them right now.
Here are some key passages that tell us what biblical love is:
I Corinthians 13:4-8a “Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things, love never fails.”
I John 3:16-18 “We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren . But whoever has the world’s goods, and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in Him? Little children, let us not love with word or tongue, but in deed and truth.”.
Galatians 5:13-14 “For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’.”
In these passages we see that love is unselfish, kind, patient and enduring, sacrificial, is rooted in truth, and meets physical needs. Our model is Christ, who gave himself humbly and sacrificially for us.
That is just a brief look at what Scripture says about love. So, how do we apply it to our current circumstances? When we love a person the way the Bible calls us to, we don’t just care about Covid. We care about the whole person. If we love someone as the Bible asks us to, we will care about their physical, mental, financial, emotional and spiritual well being. Unfortunately, during this pandemic, the focus has often been only on physical well being, and only wellbeing related to Covid. Unfortunately, people are suffering greatly on every level. We have a great opportunity to show the love of Christ when the world only cares about Covid and not the whole person.
God does care about diseases. He gave Israel all kinds of rules about how they were to function in a fallen world that has disease and death. The rules he gave in the Old Testament gave protection to the Israelites so that their diseases could be less than the surrounding nations. God’s rules included quarantining those who are sick, and washing hands. However, the Old Testament civil laws, such as these, are merely guidelines for us Christians today, not explicit commands. In the New Testament, there are several references that encourage us to visit the sick and minister to them. (James 5:14, Matthew 25:34-40)
Therefore, we see that there are no clear commands in Scripture on what to do in an epidemic. However, we do have clear commands to gather together (Hebrews 10:24-25), pray for one another(James 5:16), serve one another(Galatians 5:13), encourage one another(I Thessalonians 5:11), bear one another’s burdens(Galatians 6:2) and meet each other needs(I John3:16-18). The issues that have taken up most of our time and focus since March 2020 are not these clear commands in Scripture. Issues such as masks, vaccines, and the specifics of how to gather together during a pandemic are not explicitly addressed in Scripture. However, they have been sources of disunity and lack of love in the church.
I believe that most of the issues that we disagree about during this pandemic fall under the category of Christian liberty. We cannot be loving and be dogmatic about things for which Scripture doesn’t give us commands. For issues outside of direct Scriptural commands, we need to study Scripture to understand God and His character, learn basic wisdom principles from Scripture, ask for godly advice, pray and then follow our consciences. Romans 14 is a very good passage that discusses what we should do if Christians come to different conclusions on what to do about things which are not explicitly commanded or forbidden. The issue the early church was facing in this passage is whether they needed to have everyone follow the Old testament rules for feasts and eating, even though many in the church were Gentile. Paul clearly instructs us that it is up to the person’s conscience what they will do, and we have to respect and love those who come to different conclusions that we do.
“Therefore, let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this-not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother’s way. I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. For if because of food your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy with your food himf or whom Christ died. …….So then let us pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another. ”Romans 14:13-15, 19
Therefore, we need to step back and ask ourselves whether we are destroying with our opinions on masks, vaccines and gathering procedures those for whom Christ died? Are we pursuing the things that make for peace and the building up of one another?
We need to be willing to accept each other even if we have different non-biblical opinions. Let us love each other with the humility that admits that we have no idea what a person’s circumstances really are, or how they came to the conclusions they did. What we do know is that Christ loves each one of us and expects us to love each other unselfishly and sacrificially, and accept each other’s differences of opinion on non-biblical issues. Instead of getting upset that we don’t agree on non-biblical specifics, let’s consider how to encourage one another, and unify on biblical issues.