Social Distancing and Christianity

Imagine two couples. One couple is retired and lives on a farm miles from their nearest neighbor. They have a well and a garden. The other couple is a doctor and a nurse in a big city. They are working to save lives every day in tough circumstances.

There is no right or wrong here. Each couple is in the place where life has taken them. The farmers find themselves in a place where they have some control over their environment. They can close the gate. They can largely decide who comes and goes. The doctor and nurse have much less control over their environment. They can stay 6 feet from others, wear a mask, wash their hands…..a lot. But, they must go out among the crowd……they are far more exposed than the farmers.

Along comes the corona virus. It is an invisible, silent killer. It moves through our population unseen, sickening many and killing some. We have no natural defense, no personal immunity, no “herd immunity”. If we contract Covid-19, it will run a very predictable and sometimes lethal course. The only defense that we have is to never be be exposed to the virus………or at least to delay our exposure until treatments catch up with the disease.

Because of the situations that they find themselves in, the farmers have a much better chance of getting through the pandemic unscathed than the doctor and the nurse.

So……..what does this have to do with Christianity?

It turns out that there is another invisible silent killer among us. This one, instead of killing our body, kills our soul……..and this is far worse. We have a lot of symbols and a lot of names for this killer. Many, if not most of us, studiously ignore or even deny his existence. But, in our heart we sense the presence of evil in our world. Forget the guy in the red suit…….forget all of the names you have heard. I will call him Evil. And if you don’t believe that Evil is out there………you just aren’t paying attention.

The farmers have the best defense against the Corona virus that can be had. They aren’t naive, but they are confident that they can survive the pandemic. The doctor and nurse are good noble people and we all owe them a profound debt of gratitude. But, they move among the virus all day every day…….they do their job, but they know that their defenses are weak. If they aren’t scared…….they aren’t paying attention.

The parallels between the Corona virus and Evil are obvious. If you want your soul to survive this life, you must isolate yourself from Evil, because he is very hard to defeat once he is in your heart. Something to think about the next time you turn on the TV to entertain yourself by watching people kill each other.

Jesus gives us the tools to isolate ourselves from Evil.

Love God….. Love your neighbor.

And that is Christianity in one line.

And the LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the LORD, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”

God, NIV

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm to the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

Peter, NIV

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Paul, NIV