Purpose in a Pandemic | The Institute for Creation Research

SCIENCE IN THE NEWS    THEOLOGY
Purpose in a Pandemic
BY   
FRIDAY, APRIL 10, 2020

Our family decided to plant a modest garden in our backyard. As I placed each seed in its hole and covered it with dirt, I began thinking about the amazing purpose seeds have to change a life. This tiny speck is a true miracle. We place this life-giving seed in the sunny, fertile ground, cover it, apply water, and the Lord does the rest. We trust that when storms may arise, the seed will stay firmly planted.

I was sitting with an individual I see regularly and we started chatting about when this pandemic started, before the “shelter in place” orders. She was telling me how a friend was texting her updates on infected counts according to the news they were watching. It was causing her to start to stress about the situation. I begin to share with her the hope I have! I started to tell told her in this life I am not promised tomorrow.1 There are a lot of things in this world I do not know. However, my Jesus knows it all. As I finished sharing my hope and faith in Christ, she told me it changed the stress within her. She said, “I am so glad I saw you today. There are so many thinking so negatively. I needed to hear that.”

In this present world of pandemics, wars, and tragedies, we begin to reassess our lives and seek peace. Challenging events may cause panic, giving us a window to share the hope within us, a seed of nourishment while others may need the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have a loving God trying to provoke us to “good works.”2 In Christ, let us be a seed planted in fertile ground, given the Son, and sprinkled with the water of His word to be fruitful and multiply, trusting in the Lord when storms arise.

We have a purpose every day! Bring “the peace of God which passeth all understanding”3 to everyone we meet. We all need a reminder of the hope we have.4 In a state of panic, fear, and unbelief, we have the very seed to help in these times of trouble. Give abundantly the life-giving seed to whosoever and allow the Lord to handle the rest.

Remember the words of Christ our Lord and Savior,

“Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”5

References
1. James 4:13-14
2. Hebrews 10:24
3. Philippians 4:7
4. 1 Peter 3:15
5. Matthew 6:31-34

*Regina Krieg is Stewardship & Trust Administrator at the Institute for Creation Research.