Author: Editor

During our COVID-19 shutdown, Pastor Zekveld plans to provide a personal reflection each weekday.

Coronavirus Craziness

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, your soul, your mind, and your strength. And love your neighbour as yourself. These two commandments fulfill God’s law and they drive every true Christian.

But love gets tested under pressure. We are all being tested right now to trust God fully and to love our neighbour sacrificially. Crises can bring the best – and the worst – out of us.

It’s deeply disturbing to see how badly and bizarrely we can behave in a time of crisis. When we really need to support one another, we often follow the impulse to serve ourselves at the expense of others.

We see that in price-gouging practices during the coronavirus crisis.

• Companies are hoarding materials needed for medical supplies in order to sell them at high prices in a shortage.
• One dentist’s office order of hygiene masks was cancelled and the office was told by the company to re-order. When the office did so immediately, the company had jacked-up the price of the masks by 500%.
• Another company was charging $149 USD for two small bottles of hand sanitizer, and $44.25, plus over $14 shipping, for one container of Clorox wipes.
• Amazon.com had to remove or block more than a million products on its platform for price-gouging and for deceiving the public.
• One man ordered 3 boxes of N95 masks on eBay for $62USD only to discover that each box contained only one mask. [for these examples, see Jessica Guynn and Kelly Tyko, USA TODAY, Mar 4, 2020]
• Many members of the US Congress want to hijack an emergency stimulus bill by adding their own pet porkbarrel projects like abortion funding and green energy.

And what about panic buying? People rush frantically to empty the store shelves of essential and non-essential products before their neighbours can get to them.

A friend of mine is reluctant to return to his local No-Frills store because he witnessed an all-out brawl between two grown men fighting over the last two boxes of wipes.

And what about the craziness of hoarding toilet paper? The psychology of this behaviour is sad. One journalist calls it retail therapy. When people go out and purchase armloads of toilet paper they feel like they’re doing something meaningful to gain some control in a world that feels out of control.

She quotes consumer researcher Kit Yarrow:

The antidote to anxiety is always control. And since we can’t really control the track of this disease, we turn to what we can control, and that’s why people are shopping. It’s like, ‘well, I feel like I’m doing something, I feel like I’m preparing. I feel like I’m taking control of the thing I can control, which is stocking up.’ [Kiona N. Smith, Ars Technica, March 24 2020]

Kit Yarrow

Others respond to the coronavirus with callous indifference. “The world is over-populated,” they say, “This is Mother Nature’s way of cleaning up.”

Some think that old and sick people should just get out of the way so the rest of us can carry on with our ordinary lives.

Thankfully there are stories of heroism as well and maybe we can chronicle some of these later as they get told. Some companies, for example, are working hard to redirect their product lines to create medical supplies at a reasonable price. One pizza-shop owner in New Jersey took out a $50,000.00 line-of-credit from his bank to pay his employees in case of lay-offs.

As Christians, we see in this crooked coronavirus craziness the Bible’s truth that man’s sinful heart is directed toward himself, against the Lord and against his neighbour. How desperate is our need of a new heart. We must remember that the worst virus of all is sin. Even as Christians who have been redeemed from the sin-virus, we are still tempted to fall back into these old patterns of life.

Let’s view the coronavirus crisis as a huge calling and opportunity from God to show love for God and for our neighbour. Not only do we refuse to brawl in the super-market aisle over wipes, but we also call our neighbour and ask, “I’m going to the store for a few things. Do you need anything?”

May Christ’s love fill us and overflow from us especially when we’re under pressure in times of testing! Think of creative ways, especially when your kids are home from school, to serve one another, like: holding a sign with a precious promise of Scripture in front of a senior’s front window; making and sending a card to a young Mom; asking your senior neighbours if you can get groceries for them; or letting somebody go in front of you in the line-up for eggs at the grocery store. There are many ways to love!

When we love our neighbour, we show the love of God that He has given to us. He gave His love to us in Jesus who gave His life for us. By loving us so fully and freely, God sets us free to love our neighbour sacrificially.

Jesus said:

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

John 13:34

During our COVID-19 shutdown, Pastor Zekveld plans to provide a personal reflection each weekday.

Grace One Day at a Time

God calls us to live one day at a time. We saw that in yesterday’s reflection: Put tomorrow under God’s promise of future grace, and just do today. Don’t download tomorrow’s worries into today.

Yes, we plan weeks, months, even years ahead, but we can’t handle living tomorrow today. It’s too much. Besides, we don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. Life is so unpredictable.

Today it’s one day later, and sure enough, we face new worries. With the province of Ontario shutting down non-essential services, we’re likely to see a substantial impact on our economy. Will we keep our jobs? Will we be able to pay our bills? How will this impact my business? What will happen to our contracts? How will our lending institutions treat us? What if I have to file for EI?  

Maybe you lost your job today.

There’s so much uncertainty in our lives right now. Even if it’s just for the short term.

It takes grace – God’s grace – to live one day at a time.  Like His gift of manna, He gives us His grace in one-day increments and calls us to rest in Him each new day, again and again.

God’s grace given us through Jesus Christ covers a whole lifetime – past, present, and future. But He distributes His grace in one-day portions and calls us to live in day-to-day reliance on His grace and to share that grace with others.

Each day we are weak and He is strong – no matter how much muscle, money and talent we have. Each day God is pleased to magnify His power in our weakness.

Scripture has many ‘daily’ promises of God’s ‘daily’ grace to count on:

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Psalm 23:6

Not just my whole life long, but all the days of my life, each and every day of my life, Jesus, my Shepherd, protects and keeps me with His goodness and mercy. He doesn’t skip a single day.

Blessed be the Lord who daily bears our burdens.

Psalm 68:19

Every day God stops in to carry today’s load for us. He does not visit us monthly or annually to see what problems and pains we’ve collected. He visits every day and calls us to cast our cares upon Him every day because He cares for us every day.

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:22-23

We wake up to God every morning, and He gives us all the mercies we need for today’s pains and problems.

And what about promises like:

The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.

Psalm 121:6

As your days are, so shall your strength be.

Deuteronomy 33:25

From that verse Carolina Sandell Berg wrote her beautiful hymn:

Day by day and with each passing moment,
strength I find to meet my trials here.
Trusting in my Father’s wise bestowment,
I’ve no cause for worry or for fear.

Carolina Sandell Berg

Do you see? The eternal God is a daily God.

Living one day at a time is the right way to live because that’s the way God pours out His grace upon our lives. Whatever grace you need for today – is it patience? assurance? courage? peace? trust? repentance? wisdom? – He will give to you to magnify His power in your weakness.

So, dear friend, rest in God’s grace this morning, this afternoon, and again this evening. And tomorrow morning He’ll be there for you again.

Trust Him to strengthen you to do all the things He calls you to do, especially when those things look impossible. If He gave His Son for you, He will certainly supply every other need.

I spoke with a Christian businessman this week. His company is feeling the strain of COVID-19. Contracts are being pulled or delayed. He has a sound business plan, but God’s better plan is redirecting his.

He said to me, “God is in control of this company. We are here to serve Him. If He wants to close it down, it will be closed down. If He wants it to continue, it will continue. My job is just to treat my employees and clients fairly and faithfully each day. God gives me each day what I need.”

It really is that simple. Only faith in God can give us this kind of peace each day.

During our COVID-19 shutdown, Pastor Zekveld plans to provide a personal reflection each weekday.

Living One Day at a Time

Living one day at a time is hard for us. We like to live a week, or a month, a year, or even a decade at a time.

We want to have the future staked out, all set and ready to go, fully planned, everything accounted for, with no loose ends. We want to control the future. Then we feel safe: everything’s locked up and tied down.

We like to live tomorrow today to ensure we’re okay.

But God doesn’t want us to live that way. Because we can’t. He doesn’t want us to try to be God Who alone determines the end from the beginning. (see Isaiah 46:10)  

This is His ‘Law of Manna’ which He gave Israel in the desert long ago: Gather enough for one day only. One day at a time. And trust Me for tomorrow. (see Exodus 16)

Jesus taught us to pray that way – Give us this day our daily bread. Seek from God what you need today, and don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow shall have plenty of its own worries. (see Matthew 6:34)

There’s nothing wrong with planning. In fact, it’s required. And it’s natural. God created us purpose-filled, planning, forward-thinking. It’s a beautiful thing, imitating our God who always works with a perfect plan and purpose. Just like the beauty of ants working hard to store up for winter. (see Proverbs 6:8)

And just like Jesus who organized and lived His whole life around a set goal and plan: His heart and mind were set on going to the cross in Jerusalem and then back to the glory of heaven.

Still, He embraced the full significance and meaning of what was before Him today. He did not let today get crowded out by tomorrow. He handled each day’s people and crises faithfully, moment-by-moment. (see Luke 13:32-33, Mark 10:49)

The problem is not with our planning. The problem comes when we don’t trust God’s planning. We want to live one month or year at a time because God may have some loose ends in His plans that we need to tie down to make our lives safe. We want to control Him.

But the Lord calls us to make plans, and then submit each day’s plan to Him, and allow His plan to overturn ours. That’s what it means to live one day at a time.

It’s not living carelessly or recklessly or thoughtlessly, but humbly and submissively. Whatever you have planned for tomorrow, just gather enough for today, without anxiety for what tomorrow may bring.

Don’t live tomorrow today. It’s too much. You’ll end up impatiently bypassing today’s opportunities to hug your wife, play with the kids, speak kindly to your client, and call that person in distress.  

You need all your wits about you for what is in front of you so don’t add tomorrow’s burdens to an already full plate.

Ed Welch, Meditations on Fear, Worry and Trust

COVID-19 is a huge disruption to everyone’s plans. Governments had different plans for the economy, stockholders had different pans for their portfolios, students had different plans for the school year, families had different plans for Spring Break, pastors had different plans for their catechism classes.

Yet in this unusual lockdown season with all its pain, God has provided special opportunities for families to enjoy time together. Let’s make the most of each day of it!

God is training us – again – to live ‘DV’ (Deo Volente): if God wills we will do this or that, because we do not have tomorrow in our hands. (see James 4:11-15)

So, as you live in light of your goals for yourself, your family and your business, see today’s events, problems, interruptions, opportunities, conversations as important.

The people were in a hurry to get Jesus to Jerusalem to make Him a King. Jesus was also focused on Jerusalem for a different purpose, but He stopped for Bartimaeus because this needy blind man was before Him right now.

So live one day at a time. Make the most of today. Rather than throw away the present through fear and impatience because tomorrow is already upon you, choose to enjoy the people and gifts God has put in your life, to address patiently the issues, problems, people that are in front of you.

Don’t live tomorrow today. Live one day at a time. Put tomorrow under God’s promise: I will be with you always.  And know that His grace is sufficient for you today. His mercies are new every morning. (see Lamentations 3:23)

During our COVID-19 shutdown, Pastor Zekveld plans to provide a personal reflection each weekday.

Faith vs. the Virus

Can faith in God beat the virus?

Hundreds of people gathered for worship this week at Life Tabernacle Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, defying the state’s ban on gatherings over 50.

Pastor Tony Spell and his congregation were not going to allow some ‘dictator law’ to prohibit worship assemblies. Besides, his church claims to have special faith-powers to fight the virus. They distributed ‘anointed handkerchiefs’ with special ‘healing virtues’ to their members. [Fox News, March 19, 2020]

So what about that? Can the power of faith keep the virus away?  Who needs to worry about physical contact by meeting together when the Lord is your shield?

I hope that we find such notions not just weird, but offensive. But how then should we understand amazing promises like the one we find in Psalm 91?  In Psalm 91, God is speaking of plagues like COVID-19. He promises:

A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.

Psalm 91

I don’t know whether Pastor Spell used this verse this way, but many pastors use Psalm 91 to say that if you have enough faith you can ward off the virus or be healed of the disease. One example is a New Zealand “pastor” who declared:

God allows epidemics, pestilence, and famine when people have departed from faith in Him, but for Bible-believing, born-again Christians who pay their tithes God assures them protection from the virus in Psalm 91. [Todd Friel, Wretched Radio, Mar. 9, 2020]

New Zealand “pastor”

This is a scandalous abuse of God’s Word! But, again, how should we understand such a promise in light of the current ‘pestilence that stalks in darkness’ (Psalm 91:6)?

Does faith in God make a real difference? Does your Christian faith have the power to fight and destroy this virus? Certainly!

This promise is for all who trust in God, and have taken refuge under the shadow of His mighty eagle’s wings. The plague will destroy many but it will not come near you. In fact, you are so safe and secure from the war and the plague that you will not fear when it comes. (Psalm 91:5-6)  

Really?  These promises seem too good to be real. And, as we sometimes say with advertising, if it looks too good to be true, it likely is too good to be true. You say, “As good as this promise sounds and feels to me, it surely doesn’t look true for my friend who’s a believer and is in the ICU with COVID-19, and I don’t think he’s going to make it.”

But it is true. It’s true for you, believer. It’s true for every believer. Right now. This thing is not going to take your life away from you – whatever painful, terrible, fatal thing you face. This is not going to steal your future from you. This is not going to destroy your hopes and dreams as a believer. This is not going to take you off the road that leads to perfect glory. This is not going to destroy your life’s investment.

This promise makes sense only when you measure life the way the Bible does – not the way the world does: having this world’s temporary toys and joys and wealth.  If you measure God’s promises with a secular tape, they do not add up. They’re a cruel joke.

But if you measure God’s promises the way God views life and safety, then they’re absolutely true and trustworthy. When you understand from God’s true and ultimate perspective that the real life of peace, safety and joy is life lived in the embrace of God, then you know that the virus can’t touch your life.

Nothing can touch the life you have with God. Nothing can touch the love you have in Jesus Christ. Nothing can touch your safety on the road to heaven. Nothing can touch your eternal inheritance.

Even if the stock markets tumble and you lose all your earthly investments, that can’t come near you! That can’t touch your eternal inheritance which is reserved for you in heaven with Jesus.

Dear Christian, faith does not protect your short, earthly life from the virus. It does not replace your need for hand sanitizer and social distancing and whatever precautions you must take to protect your neighbor and yourself.

But faith in God does give you far greater protection than any cleanser or vaccine can. Faith conquers viruses, flus, grief, abuse, even death, because faith joins you to the Mighty Conqueror, Jesus Christ. In Him we are (already now) more than conquerors through Christ who loved us! (Romans 8:37)

So don’t live on your own, far away from God. That’s a sure death even if you never catch the virus, even if you are wealthier than Warren Buffet. But run to the Lord Jesus Christ, and you’re guaranteed life, no matter what hits you in this world.

During our COVID-19 shutdown, Pastor Zekveld plans to provide a personal reflection each weekday.

You can listen to his first reflection here. Or, read the transcript below.

Death of a Hero

On December 30, several weeks into a mysterious disease outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan, a little-known ophthalmologist named Dr. Li Wenliang, chatted online with fellow doctors. He wrote:

A new coronavirus infection has been confirmed and its type is being identified. Inform all family and relatives to be on guard.

Dr. Li Wenliang

As Dr. Wenliang saw more of these SARS-like infections, he continued to sound the alarm. But local authorities downplayed the outbreak and its risk to the public. They accused him of telling lies and reprimanded him for severely disturbing the social order. They pressed him to sign a gag order.

After signing the order, Li could not keep silent. He shared his concerns online and spoke with journalists in the midst of a political system that does not tolerate dissent. He warned his fellow medical staff to wear protective gear. He kept urging the authorities to warn the public against this severe outbreak.

Finally, the authorities had to recognize that Dr. Wenliang had uncovered a coronavirus from the same deadly family as SARS. He had won the battle to inform the public and saved many lives by sounding the alarm.

But Li did not fare so well himself. While treating an infected patient for glaucoma, he contracted COVID-19 from the coronavirus. He was hospitalized on January 12 for coughing and fever. As his condition deteriorated, he was moved to the Intensive Care Unit at Wuhan Central Hospital where he died on February 7. He was 34 years old.  He is survived by a son, and by his wife who is pregnant with their second child. [Hillary Leung, ‘An Eternal Hero,’ Time, Feb. 7, 2020]

After his death, many in China celebrated the humble doctor as “an eternal hero” and continue to honour his sacrifice.

As I read Dr. Wenliang’s story I was moved to give thanks for his courageous concern for his community. He was willing to risk rejection and infection to save others. I do not know whether he was a Christian, but his story is an inspiration for me in at least two ways.

First, it reminds me of the greatest Hero of all, our Lord Jesus Christ, who fought for His people all the way to death. When His people faced the ultimate sin-virus and death-disease, He sacrificed His life to save us. He lay down His life for the sheep. His commitment to our eternal well-being was so great that He was willing to suffer condemnation, rejection, and persecution for our salvation.

While Li could not conquer the coronavirus through his death, Jesus could conquer the sin-virus – and every other virus! – through His death on the cross, and He did! After His death on Good Friday, He rose again on Sunday morning in new life to share His victory with all who believe in Him. Everyone who believes in Jesus has victory over sin, disease and death. Yes, we will die. Maybe even from COVID-19. Yet we shall live. Jesus will take our souls to heaven and raise our bodies from the grave on the last day. In Him, we are totally secure.

The second lesson for me from Dr. Wengliang’s story is the importance of risking our lives for our neighbour’s good. The knowledge that something dangerous had arisen propelled him to inform and warn and work to save the lives of others. He could not remain silent even when the authorities tried to gag him.

How much more should we whose lives were saved by Jesus be willing to offer our lives to rescue others for Jesus’ sake? This includes helping to slow the spread of the virus. It also includes our willingness to step out to help those who are hurt by the virus. And what about sacrificing our lives for the Lord’s sake every day for our wives, husbands, children, clients, co-workers, employees and employers? Such love is the Christian’s everyday life.

Above all, true love for our neighbour calls the followers of Jesus to warn the world of the deadliest virus of all – our sin – and the coming judgment, and also to proclaim the Good News of the greatest Hero of all – Jesus saves!