What can you do under house arrest?

We had our first case of confirmed coronavirus yesterday evening. A Ugandan man, coming in from Dubai on Ethiopian airlines arrived at the airport displaying symptoms, was promptly tested and taken away to quarantine. Uganda may actually be better prepared to contain the virus than many other nations since containment and prevention are the main measures available to keep major outbreaks from occurring. The country definitely doesn’t have enough centers for treatment should the virus infect many people, so that’s is why they taken prevention and containment so seriously. This is a nation that deals with annual cases of ebola and you rarely hear it mentioned. This is due to it being snuffed out as soon as there is a whiff of it. At first, the virus was treated mostly as a joke by our people. They comment that corona is no ebola (which has a 67% death rate) and it doesn’t even kill as many people as malaria (nor are the symptoms as severe). But as the virus entered Africa, and now with our first confirmed case in Uganda, people have been overcome by fear. In my WhatsApp Bible study groups and district pastors group, I’ve seen everything from one pastor claiming the rapture is about to take place and giving us special instructions on how to prepare and position ourselves to be taken up into the clouds, to people attempting to repent on behalf of the sins of the world (a big part of generational curse thinking here) as well as some praying prayers where they “cancel the spirit of coronavirus in the name of Jesus.”

In the States, an election year has taken a backseat to other news, which is a first in my lifetime at least. The self-centeredness of our culture has been put on full display, which is appropriate. Some celebrities got together and did a group (video group of course) version of John Lennon’s Imagine with the thought of inspiring others. It had the opposite effect as the internet has mocked it ceaselessly and rightfully so. A group of extremely wealthy people singing about imagining no possessions as they practice social distancing on an island or in a mansion, miles away from the populace comes off a bit tone-deaf if you will pardon the expression. I also doubt if this same group, which clamors for income redistribution normally, would be happy to foot the grocery bills for many people who may be laid off because of the virus’ economic effects. But do you see the wonderful opportunity that trouble gives to Christians?

While some religious figures isolated themselves before there was realization of how great the threat was, and others have responded by panicking, this is a chance to separate the sheep from the goats for the whole world to see. Historians note that Christians have behaved in peculiar fashion during plagues of the past. While politicians and physicians fled from Roman cities where the black death was, Christians were marked for their compassion for the victims of the plague. They went into homes where the illness was, risking their own health to share food and administer care. While we know that visiting people with coronavirus would actually endanger others, there is opportunity for us to bare out truth that leads people to real life in this time. There are three things that come to my mind –

1. Faith rather than fear. While everyone else wonders what is going on and when it will end, Christians need to trust and obey. Consider this story about Jesus and the disciples from Matthew 8:23-27 – ²³ And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. ²⁴ And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. ²⁵ And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” ²⁶ And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. ²⁷ And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?” ESV

We sympathize with the disciples’ fear. The boat is filling with water and you’re being tossed around by huge waves. But notice that Jesus has no sympathy for their fear. This his answer to us every time we ever ask him whether he cares about the trial that we are suffering through, where is your faith? Faith is so easy when life is easy that you can fake it so well you even fool yourself into believing you have it. But trouble comes and then what happens? Trouble proves faith…. or disproves it.

2. Christ will be honored in me whether by my life or by my death, Philippians 1:20-21 – “²⁰ as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. ²¹ For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” ESV

Are you really satisfied with any outcome that God puts you in? It seems we are not even happy with the idea of using less toilet paper than we are accustomed too. It’s far better to depart and be with Christ than to remain in our fallen condition. This marks us as clearly distinct from people who have no relationship with Christ.

3. 1 Corinthians 15:29 – ²⁹ Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf? ESV

I recently read the testimony of a woman who came from a Muslim family in Iran. She had an older sister who became a Christian and was baptized. When her family found out about it, they dragged her out of their home and killed her. The woman said that as her sister watched her executioners carry out the death sentence against her, she looked at them with love and peace in her eyes. The woman said she realized her sister had something that she had never seen anyone else possess. It was truly a peace that surpassed all understanding. The woman became a Christian because of the way her sister died.

These are all examples of how Christians ought to distinguish themselves in these times. Even a casual knowledge of the Old Testament will make a person aware that God speaks first to people through his Word, but when they don’t listen through famine, disease, natural disaster, and harassing enemies. Though coronavirus is judgment on the world for its sin, that chastening is also God’s mercy to help people wake up from sin and find a relationship with him while there’s still time. This is our mission.