A New Reality
Isolated! So, people, here we are. Not in the middle of a new normal, no, this is a “new reality”! (For short in this blog post, I will call the Corona Virus, CV) In light of this CV crisis, we find ourselves quickly confronted with all things about our human condition, the good things and the bad things. This CV is a threat with an unknown variable. We don’t know how much a threat it is and who it threatens most. Data is beginning to be collected, but there is still not much clarity. The he said, she said noise in our society is making so much more confusion and fear about CV. The reality of truth is, we never really know what we “think we know” only God knows. We have a God who knows, He knows all of it, all of our future. We should look to Him first, that is the best plan. Look up and Listen up to God first and let Him be our Navigator in these uncharted waters.
Listen well to wise counsel and be willing to learn from correction so that by the end of your life you’ll be known for your wisdom. 21 A person may have many ideas concerning God’s plan for his life, but only the designs of His purpose will succeed in the end. Prov. 19:20-21
Fear Reaction
When you have an unknown variable to a known threat, the human condition of fear is escalated and we find out who we serve and who our friends and neighbors serve. The kind of mentality that hurts everyone, is a me first mentality. This is what we all have seen, experienced and been tempted with during the onset of CV fear. Fear is always prevalent when a sudden threat does not have much facts or experiential knowledge is not yet established. Unchartered waters can create fear and uncontrolled fear creates panic and the human condition of self-preservation is prevalent. Thankfully Jesus was not into self-preservation, He is into the Will of His Father God first and we are a people who are taught to be like Him.
Abandon every display of selfishness. Possess a greater concern for what matters to others instead of your own interests. 5 And consider the example that Jesus, the Anointed One, has set before us. Let his mindset become your motivation. ~ The Example of Jesus Christ~ 6 He existed in the form of God, yet he gave no thought to seizing equality with God as his supreme prize 7 Instead he emptied himself of his outward glory by reducing himself to the form of a lowly servant. He became human! 8 He humbled himself and became vulnerable, choosing to be revealed as a man and was obedient. He was a perfect example, even in his death—a criminal’s death by crucifixion! Philippians 2:4-8 The Passion Translation
Smashing Idols ~ Purifying Hearts
The CV is not normal, it is a new reality we all are growing through! When something is unknown, it reveals in us what is truly known! Who do we rely on? Who do we go to for facts? How do we react to an unknown CV? This type of new reality reveals what kind of people we are. The heart issue is clearly seen when we are threatened, seen through our reactive actions. This is why I see God in this CV crisis. This is why I know He has allowed this. This CV situation that hits the shores of the United States and many other nations, will reveal our heart allegiances and heart idols. This CV crisis will show out our heart from the inside out. What is in our heart, will be seen in the reaction to the issues of our life. CV is an unknown issue, an uncharted threat to all of us, a hidden enemy and it will reveal our heart, no doubt about it. I believe this is God’s Why. When we ask why would God allow this, this comes to my mind: God is smashing idols and purifying our hearts.
Got Isolation? Why?
Isolation is a seclusion, a separation of people to people activity. We have been asked to put our socialization in check, to isolate ourselves for the good of others to stop the spread of CV. Social Distancing is isolation and it is a common sense reaction of serving, putting other people’s well being above your normal way of living. We have been asked to isolate ourselves to protect others, to help stop the spread of this CV virus. It is a good time for us to think about what isolation is and how it feels. It feels like a loss of freedom. We are used to going and being together in larger groups. To get familiar with isolation is to experience it. How do you feel being isolated from others? This is a new reality God is using to purposefully pin point exactly where our individual hearts are and the need we have to change it up. How do you think God has felt as we as a society have isolated ourselves farther and further from Him?
Isolated From Idols
It is interesting that we are isolated from all of our 20th Century idols of sports, entertainment, work out gyms, movie theaters, money, work, bars, beaches, nail salons and even all of our church functions. Why? What is God trying to say to us? God is on the move and He is crashing a lot of our idols that we bow to. Is God trying to get our undivided attention? It is time for us to fully face God and listen up to what He has to say. Have you bowed today? To what? To Whom? It is time to look up to God, fully face God and then humbly bow before Him.
Isolated From God?
Jesus Christ, JC in short. Have we isolated ourselves from Him? Because truly in this man-made isolation from each other, we are not isolated from the ONE Who matters most. We are feeling very uneasy about being isolated from the things we think matter most. This very uncomfortable “new reality” is the God purpose in play, we find ourselves in and confronted by. A CV that puts us in isolation, with the purpose of helping others, is putting others first, but God is purposefully using CV isolation, to get us back to the basics of JC. God is calling us away from our idols, and back to Him first. Listen Up:
Nothing Is Normal
What are we being isolated from? What has CV isolated you from? What is your reaction? What should be your response? God is putting a spotlight on all areas of our soul, and especially the idols of our culture that we lean into more than we do Him. God is isolating us from these things, reaching for us in this isolation, pointing out to us the things of this world we give ourselves to, more than we do Him. God is wanting us to be infected with JC instead of CV. During this isolation, our world has been rocked and nothing is normal, and everything we are used to we are isolated from. It is time to return to the ONE Who you are never isolated from, Who has always been there, Who we human beings have self-isolated from.
A New Reality
Get back to the basics of GOD first and let’s let this CV restore us to heart to heart relationship with JC. It will be a good thing if we walk out of this isolation time with a new reality of God First, God’s Kingdom First, and God’s Way First. Let God use CV for good and not evil and let this time of isolation be a time where we give back to God total access to our lives, less idols, more of Him, less of our normal, more of our new reality of wholly-holy, heart to heart, vital-vertical relationship with Him, with our God. CV to JC! Are you down with this? Being up with God first? I am. Just do it, Jesus, do this work in us during this time of isolation, change it up in us.
Revelation 2:4 But I have this against you: you have abandoned the passionate love you had for me at the beginning. The Passion Translation
Got A Strong Will?
If this CV isolation makes my will buck up against it, I know it is because I don’t want to give up something that CV isolates me from, these are the things that are idols or can become idols, these are the things that isolate us from God. During this CV isolation, take a look at your comfort zone, what has rocked it? Do you feel uncomfortable? Why? Search your heart! What do you have to “give up” when you are isolated because of CV? What makes your flesh crawl about this CV isolation? Put God ahead of these things.
“For the multitude of worldly friends profiteth not, nor may strong helpers anything avail, nor wise counselors give profitable counsel, nor the cunning of doctors give consolation, nor riches deliver in time of need, nor a secret place to defend, if Thou, Lord, do not assist, help, comfort, counsel, inform, and defend.” – Thomas a Kempis
A New Thing
God is doing a new thing, He is making it personal with us, using CV isolation to open our eyes to just how much we have isolated ourselves from God with all the stuff, things, and the idols of our culture. It is time to let CV, bring us back to JC, in that wholly-holy way, aligning our hearts with Him, His way, truth and life, making Him first. During this CV isolation, let’s pray for us and others to make it a point to get back to JC first.
Normality Rocked
All these things being affected by CV isolation. Our Leisure, Our Entertainment, Our Sports, Our Finances, Our Church Ministry, Our Socialization, Our Politics, Our Economy, Our Health, Our Welfare, Our Entertainment, and all the things we chase after as human beings, we are being isolated from for this period of time. Our normality has been rocked by CV, this sudden uncharted life course, has shaken up our normal and created a new reality, which we are not comfortable with. Use this CV isolation to get back to the ONE, Who we are never isolated from, and never will be isolated from, get back to God first, our primary passion being for God. We were created for God first, to pursue relationship with Him and to serve Him first.
Humility Ends Well
During this CV crisis, will we make the right choice, first for God and others second. The first choice keeps our fear of the unknown at bay, the second choices helps us to choose what is right, sacrificing some of our liberty for the well being of others and develops humility in us that always ends well. The unknowns of CV should draw us to GOD, to the respect and awe of a God Who knows everything. We should cling to Him, not to fear and we should serve His ways, loving His way, sacrificially serve others, putting the well being of others first, before our comfort or our personal gain.
“The focus of health in the soul is humility, while the root of inward corruption is pride. In the spiritual life, nothing stands still. If we are not constantly growing downward into humility, we shall be steadily swelling up and running to seed under the influence of pride.” Author: J.I. Packer
We Have A Navigator
With CV, we are in uncharted waters, rowing against the cultural tide of fear, deranged selfishness and human panic, that looks out for self-first as it tramples over everyone else. To grow through this new reality of CV, we need to put God first and the well being of other human beings second. We need a total access trust of God, where reverence, respect and awe of God is ramped up. Together with God, we can conqueror the spread of CV, it will take all of us, giving up our liberty, isolating ourselves for the well being of others. JC is the name above CV, so cling to Him, He still speaks, He still teaches and we are still loved, taught and equipped. God is making us fit for every new reality and every new uncharted place we find ourselves unable to navigate in. God is our navigator and our current navigation.
Strengthen Your Spiritual Core
As Christians, we strengthen our inner spiritual core daily through our spiritual disciplines. This CV will test our faith, it is a new muscle usage, testing the strength of our inner spiritual core with a new reality that we have not prepared for. We will be sore, as we exercise our faith in new ways, rowing in uncharted water. We will grow in new ways, learning new spiritual disciplines that strengthen our inner spiritual core as we stay in followship of Jesus, letting go of what we “think we know” and embracing our new reality with courage to be taught and boldness to learn and implement new things in our life.
“God Has Made Me Fit For A Time Such As This, I Believe Him Alone, He Is My Fountain Of Truth. I Overcome Evil By Submitting Myself To God. In Followship Of God, I Resist Evil And Do Good Through The Disclosure Of The Resurrection Power Of God In Me.” KimberlyMac
Create New Disiplines
Yes, new disciplines are needed in times such as these and God will teach us, and equip us to sustain us in our new reality, in times such as these where we find ourselves in uncharted waters that we do not know how to navigate. This is not a new normal, there is nothing normal about CV, this is a new reality and God is in it, purposefully so, rocking us off of the foundation of our cultural say-so, pulling out our rootedness here, shaking us free from every earthly idol and getting ready to transplant us in His Kingdom. This is our new reality. Will we react out of our flesh or will we respond to God? In a time such as this, we become spiritually aware as we watch, wait, see and do new things that God will teach us. It is a time for us to isolate with Jesus and become more like Him. More of Him, His way truth, and kingdom life and less of us and our worldly viewpoint.
Look Up ~ Listen Up
This is a good time to individually connect ourselves heart to heart with God, look up, listen up and live up and then together, corporately follow after His lead. This is the only way out of the doom of CV to the victory of JC. God first! If we are isolated, let it be with Christ, and let Jesus, our Way-Maker God, make a way of escape for us in that way only He can. Followship of JC is how we beat CV. God bless each of you. Look away from CV and look to JC, we have a Way-Maker God!
Have You Bowed?
What does God want from us? Our undivided attention! Deception is rampant. We can’t truly know who is right and what is wrong. God KNOWS! Church, God is ISOLATING us from our idols…. we don’t need man’s wisdom; it is not enough to navigate us out of this crisis. We need the direction of God’s Holy Spirit, WHO is in the midst of this predicament and is purposefully using it to shatter the idols we have bowed to. Church, God wants our attention in that wholly-holy way He desires. God is changing it up and idols are falling, not by human doing, but by the Mighty Right Hand of God, purposefully so. Fully Face God! We must Wholly-Holy align our hearts to God’s heart. Who are you bowing to? Have you bowed to God today? Bow!
Isolated? Yes! Afraid Of The Unknown? Yes! Angry about our status quo being rocked? Yes! What now? Fully Face God, Our Way Maker God, Who We Are Never Isolated From!
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