Any crisis can bring out the best in people whether it is helping a family experiencing a tragedy, a city hit by a disaster, or a worldwide pandemic. Our son, who lives in Nashville, experienced the best of people first-hand in 2010 when 13.57 inches of rain fell in a 36-hour period, flooding the city including his recording studio. People he never knew randomly drove up and offered their help to clean up. After recent tornados ravaged homes across Nashville, although his home suffered no damage, he shared how people rallied together, helping those who lost everything. Today, in our worldwide crisis, we read of people all over the globe showing their best. Just this morning one headline read: Woman cashes in stimulus check to help feed the homeless.
I wish the story could end with that image in your mind. However, a crisis also brings out the worst in individuals looking to capitalize on other people’s misfortune. Daily, we hear about scams, fraudulent claims, receive robocalls, texts and emails promising cures or claims they can speed up your stimulus money—of course for a price or for your financial information. Then there are those who hoard and price gouge—e.g. $150 for one roll of toilet paper; $140 for hand-sanitizer or $1 for a single squirt; the most blatant example I saw was four cans of Lysol disinfectant spray for a $10,100. These are extreme examples, but overpriced items are being sold every day.
Any senior like myself has watched the world slowly devalue life over the last three decades. The first step downward was believing an unborn fetus has no value. Now, euthanasia is legal in certain places for the suffering, the mentally challenged, and elderly. Putting people to death is permissible because wicked people view these individuals as having lost their value to society. Having ministered for over forty years and traveled in multiple countries, not much surprises me about what people say or do. But one statement this week made my blood boil came from a Congressman. My first thought, “This is why our country is in a mess.” He said that letting more Americans die of coronavirus is the lesser of two evils compared to the economy tanking and losing the American way of life. In other words, our ‘way of life’ is more important than life itself. Other leaders have expressed similar distorted priorities, suggesting that elderly people should sacrifice themselves to coronavirus to save the economy.
Life is the greatest gift God has given to man. You might have thought His greatest gift was salvation, but Christ’s sacrifice revealed the value He placed on human life. He was crucified and died in order for man to once again receive life, which he lost because of sin. The last thing God created was man in His own image. The Lord formed the body of Adam from the dust of the ground. But Adam was just a lifeless lump of dirt until God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being (Gen 2:7). Paul wrote For we are His workmanship (Eph 2:10). The word workmanship means God’s masterpiece, or the greatest of His creations. Jesus declared His purpose. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly (Jn 10:10). This contrasts with the devil’s goal. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy (v10). What is Satan’s object of destruction? It is not our ‘way of life’. He wants to steal and kill and destroy the life God has given us.
Don’t allow anyone to deceive you into believing your life is not important. You are the highest on God’s priority list. He created you for a purpose. That purpose doesn’t mean we are performing some physical action, but it may be your prayers, your example, your wisdom, your witness of hope or sharing God’s word, etc. No ‘way of life’ has any importance if you don’t have life. Our primary function on earth is to worship and praise God. Note two verses. For the grave cannot praise you, death cannot sing your praise; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for your faithfulness (Is 38:18). The dead do not praise the Lord, nor do any of those who descend into the silence of death.But we will praise the Lord now and forevermore. Praise the Lord (Ps 115:17 MSG)!
The happiest people I’ve known lived on the opposite end of our ‘way of life’. Most lived in mud-brick houses and I have moved some of them with all their possessions in the trunk of my car. Never heard one complain. Instead, they praised God for life and the knowledge of Him.
What’s number one on your priority list? Has the best or the worst come from you in past weeks?
Sustaining Word for the Week: “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God” (Corrie Ten Boom).