24 March 2020 Don’t Waste Your Quarantine Dear Church Family, In Ephesians 5, Paul talks about how we are to live in this world as “children of the light” (5:8), or in the context of Sunday morning, living as citizens of the new Jerusalem whilst we are exiled in Babylon. In Ephesians 5:15-17 Paul tells us this: “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.” Every situation we are in contains opportunity. It may not feel like it, and we can’t dismiss the difficulties of our present situation, but we are in an opportunity that God has given us. How then shall we live as wise people in these days of quarantine? Here are some thoughts on how do to make the most of this opportunity. What we were made for When God made Adam and Eve, he made them to tend and keep the garden that he placed Adam and Eve in. In Genesis 2:15 we read: “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” We were made to work, to produce, not to just consume. I think this is a helpful way of thinking about how we use our time in quarantine - spend a decent amount of time in activities that are productive, creative and caring. Opportunities to make the most of So often we are so busy that we say we haven’t got the time to do all sorts of things that are on the productive side outside of our normal work. We don’t have that excuse for a while! Take some time to do some thing that you excuse yourself from doing because you are too busy:
Opportunities to avoid There is nothing wrong with activities that are consumeristic such as watching movies, listening to music, reading, social media, gaming and so on. But all these are gifts from God that have dangers if not moderated. Here are some things that, whilst tempting, we should avoid because they are not “making the most of the opportunity”:
There is some really good content that you can consume online. I would recommend articles on the gospel coalition website: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/ Brothers and sisters, when all this is over, let us be able to look back and say that our quarantine, whilst difficult and horrible at times, was not wasted. With love and prayers, |
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