Five Years Later
2 Peter 3:18
But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.
It all started five years ago this week. The biggest developments at this point were mostly just sports being cancelled. It was March Madness time, Players Week for golf, etc. Some things were just postponed and some completely cancelled. Over the next couple of months, we would see things continue to escalate all the way to the point that several state governments decided to shut down churches. Years later, we see the disinformation and the harm that COVID did. I also can’t help but think of the damage done to churches. There are many people that never went back to church. There are multiple churches that closed and never reopened. There are many areas that now only have Sunday morning services. I’m not condemning anyone for closing their church and having no services at all. It was a very crazy time we were living in with a lot of information coming and going and not knowing what to believe. There are many ways we could point fingers and say why all this took place, but instead of pointing fingers, I’d like to pose a question: Have you grown in grace and knowledge since then? What if the same thing happened again next month? Where would you fall in believing and trusting God over man? Don’t misunderstand me. We need to be smart about decisions made, but we should also stand for what’s right. There are times to show grace, but growing in knowledge also means as we get closer to God we should be willing to make a stand for what’s right. Did you know that over the last 30 years the number of countries where Christians face severe persecution has nearly doubled? It’s believed that in some countries, nearly 1 in 5 Christians will face persecution for their belief. We seem to believe that it can’t or won’t happen in America. Have we forgotten what happened five years ago? I’d venture to guess that in a lot of those countries, things didn’t happen overnight. It can happen slowly over time. Taking prayer out of school. Taking down the 10 Commandments or “ In God We Trust” off things. All “small” steps that then make it easier to convince people that it’s okay to shut down churches. Especially when it’s for their own well-being. Those small steps led many to look at church as just a thing we do and not place the emphasis on the importance of attendance. As we grow and get closer to the Lord, it should make us stand for what’s right! As we grow and get closer to Him, it should help us to fully trust Him and rely on Him alone! Unfortunately, it seems that too many people are just too quick to rely on what man says instead of what God has shown them. We only get to trusting Him by spending time with Him, in His Word, and growing in our relationship with Him!
Five years later. Have you grown in grace and knowledge of the Lord? Are you closer to Him now than you were five years ago?
God bless
Bro. Josh Richardson
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