Covid and the Sword

 

Think back with me to March and how different life was. Remember when we were just starting to hear about covid? We were all on high alert and became very concerned when we heard it was starting to travel around the world. Then suddenly it hit our shores hard. School, church, work, sports, and extras all came to a screeching halt. We suddenly found ourselves at home with all of outside life canceled. Only one person went to the store to buy groceries. We made sure to touch as little as possible, use hand sanitizer, and stay 6 feet away from others while in public. We were told whatever you do, don't touch your face. There were no get-togethers with friends or family parties. People even masked up without question when they told us to wear masks. We did everything possible to make sure we and our family stayed safe.

Why? Because doctors and experts in high positions gave us instructions on how to keep covid away from our family. We listened very carefully and did just as they recommended because we wanted the best for our families. We wanted to protect our health. We wanted to live.

As I was reading in James yesterday, something struck me pretty hard.

We have access to God's Word every day. Some of us have had Bibles of our own since we started Sunday school as a preschooler. That means people like me have had a Bible for almost 50 years. We have page after page after page of instructions for life. They are commands from our all powerful, perfect, loving God. Talk about an expert in life. He is the creator of it all. He doesn't have to guess or predict. He doesn't have to study out new situations. His counsel does not change. He is never wrong. He knows it all.

So, why is it that so many of us will bring our lives to a screeching halt for fallible, human “experts” who tell us what to do but when it comes to life counsel that is given by the One who knows everything, we only apply what we want to apply? Why is it that we are happy to hear instruction but just tuck it away in our mind instead of doing it?

James 1:21-25 says, “Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.”

When covid experts spoke, we were not just hearers, we were doers. We dropped everything and did as they said. Why would we do any less for God?   Friend, it's time to do the same for the perfect Counselor, the perfect Physician, the one and only God. It's time to be doers of the Word and not just hearers. Drop everything. Go before God. The Bible says God's Word is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword.  Ask Him what needs to be cut from your life. Ask Him what to apply. Read His Book of instructions. Ask Him where to start being a doer of the Word. Then do it. 

 

But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you. James 4:6-10

 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrews 4:12

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. John 10:10

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing 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. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. 2 Peter 1:2-7