Insights Into The Covid-19 Church Era –Part XXXXII
“Which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?” (Luke 14:28)
Part of the new normal in the Covid-19 era is counting the cost.
Teens hang out with friends. College age adults date and party hearty. Adults work, play sports, and love family outings. Elderly adults play cards and hang out a Senior Centers. The Cost: What is the cost during this Covie-19 pandemic? Catching the disease and spreading it to others? If you catch it, you may be asymptomatic or mildly infected, or you could become severely ill, hospitalized, quarantined in I.C.U. while placed on a ventilator, or even die. Is it worth the risk? Is the status quo worth paying the piper?
Feeling infallible some see no cost and the coronavirus as a hoax.
Some see a minimal personal cost that they will get over and possibly building up antibodies.
Others with vulnerable physical preconditions see it as a great risk that may cause a hospitalization, isolation, and possibly face death.
These are our options. If only symptomatic, we feel comfortable and safe. We overlook that it is highly contagious. You may not have respiratory problems, but your asthmatic neighbor or family member does. Getting pneumonia like symptoms could be fatal. No one person can stop a pandemic, but one person can cause one. Stopping a contagious disease must be a group effort.
Essential workers have been honored as heroes because they counted the cost. In spite of not having proper PPE, Personal Protection Equipment they went to work, then self-quarantined in hotels to prevent giving the disease to their family. They dealt with personal loss when fellow nurse and doctors contracted it. These heroes are shocked at America’s complacent attitude towards wearing masks, social distancing, washing their hands, and refusing to party or bar hop in crowds. They’ve seen the infallible fall, the casual believer believe when placed on oxygen or a ventilator. They take it seriously; we should too!
Not taking it seriously has a cost. As the rest of the world sees its cases decrease, its hospitalizations and death rate fall, the lackadaisical American attitude is feeding the pandemic, stripping us of a way of life, affecting our economy, and causing million to contract the disease while killing tens of thousands, while Americans remain callous.
Where is our empathy? We are not infallible. Just because we do not personally know someone with Covid-19 doesn’t mean it is a hoax. Why aren’t Americans fighting this pandemic? Wearing a mask, washing your hands, social distancing, avoiding groups is not difficult. Stubbornly many refuse to comply to state and local officials requesting they do those things to curb the suffering and dying. The cost has been much greater when we don’t comply. Rebellion and opposition only compound the problem, forbids flattening the curb, and force the “new normal” to stay with us. We can beat the contagious Covid-19 through an united effort while thinking of not only our personal safety but others. We must extend compassion, empathy, and sympathy to others.
Christianity is based on high standards: Jesus paid the cost for your sins, even though He was sinless. He was willing to suffer and die not only just for you, but for others! I John 3:16 instructs Christians, “We know love by this, that He (Jesus) laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has the world’ good and sees his brother in needs and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? (I John 3:16-17) Laying down your life may be as simple as wearing a mask, washing your hands, social distancing, and staying away from groups. This is how we can show America the love of God. Let’s begin doing those simple acts of love.