Christian singer Nichole Nordeman comment above writing about COVID and thanking healthcare workers really spoke to me. It is SUCH a blessing when someone takes a moment to SAY what we in our home FEEL on behalf of JB. She also makes an impassioned plea after losing her aunt to COVID very quickly and unexpectedly.
I received a message from a young friend in my local community this week. She wrote the following:
Hi! I just wanted to let you know I was thinking about you. I appreciate that you share your perspective about covid, especially here where it is likely to receive a significant amount of backlash. I think sharing those things take a lot of courage, even though it shouldn’t have to. You are amazing. I really hope to have a heart as big as yours some day.
It's interesting that I have chosen to make some statement about COVID. Many things, I choose to sit silently on. But this is one, because my husband has a lot of "clout" on this topic. I feel is important for us to speak up on.
And so I will continue to do so. I have thought about stopping. So has John. But the comments we received from friends and family telling us they appreciate his insight, require us to keep speaking.
I recognize that EVERYONE must make their own VERY DIFFICULT and VERY CHALLENGING decisions when it comes to this virus and how to proceed in their everyday lives. I am not here to judge you on how many people you have over for Thanksgiving and what parties you do or don't attend. We have boundaries in place for our family, and we've kept them in place. I will share them if you ask, but this is NOT black or white when it comes to "do I invite so and so to our Christmas gathering." I totally get that.
However, folks, if we forget that LIVES are IMPORTANT ... what is wrong with us as human beings? I mean, how can we say: "The death rate is only 4%." That four percent has meant one-quarter of a million Americans have died. One and a half million people in the entire world have died. Some of you may argue that the number is exaggerated, but take it from my husband, it is honestly probably HIGHER than what the numbers say. However, even if it isn't, no one can deny that's a WHOLE LOT OF PEOPLE.
However, so much of this has gotten POLITICAL and that is what I want to speak up about right now. I am a CHRISTIAN. I am NOT a Democrat or a Republican. I am a daughter of the KING of Heaven. I am a daughter of my Heavenly Father.
My Pastor at First Christian Church Greeneville spoke this past Sunday about how our "citizenship" is in heaven. Below, I want to share a little bit of what he spoke about. I have also included the FULL video of the sermon if you want to hear it for yourself.
Here was the part that specifically stood out to me:
In the season that seems like this endless battle of earthly kingdoms vying for power, If you find yourself emotionally tied into those worldly kingdoms vying for powers ... perhaps it is because you're listening and you're thinking and you're speaking according to the world's categories.
1. Bearing witness to Christ as King means listening to His voice and not the kingdoms of the world. In John 10, Jesus says that his sheep hear his voice, and that he calls them by name and leads them. When this happens, there will be ONE flock. Where HE is shepherd. People who truly belong to God, they listen to and they believe the words of Jesus because HE'S their shepherd. The evil one is always seeking (John 10:10) to steal and kill and destroy but those whose lives bear witness to Christ as king overall, they listen for the voice of their shepherd. They listen for truth and goodness and beauty in the world that display that truth and goodness and beauty of the shepherd. You have to learn to listen if you are going to bear witness to Christ as King.
2. Bearing witness to Christ as King means increasingly means increasingly submitting our thinking to him as the authoritative ground and guide for all truth. When Jesus says He is King, He means it with a forcefulness and a depth that we miss because we easily give ourselves to this world's categories of meaning and purpose. (II Cor 10:3 & 5) "We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive." We must submit our thinking to the truth of Christ as King. We must take every thought captive, wrestle it down, do the hard work of mentally submitting your thinking to obey Christ as Lord. If something is true, it is become God made it true as creator of all.
3. Bearing witness to the truth of Christ the King means more than silent modeling and often requires actually speaking. You can't hear what isn't spoken. "Faith comes from hearing and hearing through the Word of Christ." Go into all the world and proclaim the Gospel through all creation.
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