Exercise bands. When it became apparent that we might be sheltering in place, we searched and finally acquired, what I believe to be, the last ones in our zip code!
The family is using them now, out of necessity; however, in all likelihood, once this crisis is over, those bands will be placed in a drawer and go unused thereafter.
I read a statistic recently that Bible sales are up 60% from this time last year. People are desperate for comfort and answers amidst uncertainty, anxiety, sickness and death.
The following lyrics, from theologians Big Head Todd and the Monsters (insert sarcastic grin here) reminded me of how, in desperation, people are now searching for comfort.
Oh I want to believe in you now that I’m suffering
Oh lord, I need to receive your hand in my heart
I fear unbelievers amidst this pandemic are like children: too often what they want and what they need are two different things.
Most unbelievers simply want a Jesus to help them endure this crisis, when what they ultimately need is a Jesus to address their sin-induced alienation from their Creator and ultimate Judge.
Remember the words of Jesus in John 16:8,
“When He [the Holy Spirit] has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.”
Let’s not give them a man-centered Gospel, which, like my exercise bands, will be tossed aside in the aftermath of COVID-19.
It was JC Ryle who said, “Without a thorough conviction of sin, men may seem to come to Jesus and follow him for a season, but they will soon fall away and return to the world.”
And Paul Washer, not one to mince words, emphatically adds,
I submit to you that this country is not Gospel hardened; it is Gospel ignorant, because most of its preachers are. Let me repeat this. The malady in this country is not liberal politicians, the root of socialism, Hollywood, or anything else. It is the so-called evangelical pastor, preacher, or evangelist of our day; that is where the malady is to be found. We do not know the Gospel. We have taken the glorious Gospel of our blessed God and reduced it down to four spiritual laws, and five things God wants you to know, with a little superstitious prayer at the end. And if someone repeats it after us with enough sincerity, we popishly declare them to be born again! We have traded regeneration for decisionism…
When the Gospel is preached today and shared in personal evangelism, do you ever hear of God’s justice and wrath? Almost never. It is seldom made clear that Christ was able to redeem because He was crushed under the justice of God—and having satisfied divine justice with His death, God is now just and the justifier of the wicked. It is Gospel reductionism! We wonder why it has no power. What happened? I’ll tell you: When you leave the Gospel behind and there is no longer any power in your supposed gospel message, then you have to do all the little tricks of the trade that are so prominently used today to convert men—and we all know most of them. But none of them work!
“Evangelism begins with the nature of God. Who is God? Can a man recognize anything about his sin if he has no standard by which to compare himself? If we tell him nothing but trivial things about God that tickle the carnal mind, will he ever be brought to genuine repentance and faith?”
