Contrary to what false teachers, peddling the prosperity gospel, would have you to believe, suffering is part of the Christian walk.
And yet, as the puritan Octavius Winslow wisely notes below, a calm amidst life’s storms should characterize the believer. (And, yes, this includes COVID-19)
“The Christian is far from being entirely exempt from those chafings and disquietudes which seem inseparable from human life…But through all this there flows a river, the streams whereof make glad the city of God. It is the peace of the heavenly mind, the peace which Jesus procured, which God imparts, and which the Holy Spirit seals.”
The apostle Paul wrote,
We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. (2 Cor. 4:8–10).
Paul lists mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual suffering, and, yet, most scholars consider Paul to be the greatest Christian to have ever live! So much the notion that sacrifice, Christian sincerity and “sowing a seed” financially will result in living your best life now!
As John Piper’s desiringgod.org notes,
“All Christians suffer. Either you have, you are, or you will — “through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22).
This reality is a stark reminder that we have not reached the new heavens and new earth. The New Jerusalem of no tears and no pain, of no mourning and no death, hasn’t arrived yet (Revelation 21:1, 4).
But just because we experience suffering as we await the redemption of our bodies, it doesn’t mean that our suffering is random or without purpose. And neither does it mean that Scripture doesn’t tell us how to think about our suffering now.”
So…what was Paul’s secret? One key, I believe, is perspective. Paul continues in 2 Corinthians 4,
16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
As I was reminded recently, amidst my quarantine reading, we must remember that there is something worse than death, and something better than human flourishing.
Read that again:
Worse than death
Meaning worse than physical death, which we will all experience, is spiritual death, the second death of hell described in Rev. 20:14 for those who are not reconciled to God through Christ’s death and resurrection
At this moment, March 31 2:04pm COVID-19 has killed 40,708 individuals. Sadly many of those persons were already dead…spiritually. Unless they were born again, as Paul says,
And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with [Christ], having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. (Col. 2:13-14)
Better than human flourishing
Paul told the Corinthians,
“Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” (2 Cor. 5:8)
Paul considered physical death, departure from the body, to be preferable, as he would be with Jesus. So, even amidst the best that life has to offer: the most beautiful sunrise, the birth of a beautiful newborn baby, the joy of a wedding or the warm embrace of a loved one, none of this will compare to the new heaven and earth that John Piper referred to earlier.
That fact, along with trust in a sovereign, all-wise Lord, who promises to work everything together for our ultimate good, is what can and should give us the peace of heavenly mind Octavius described earlier.
