The Way of Love in Approaching the Complex Concerns of the COVID-19 Virus
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Throughout the Bible both love for God and love for neighbor are shown to be two sides of the same coin. Maybe the most direct teaching connecting these two loves comes in the third and fourth chapters of 1 John. In 1 John 4:20-21, John directly states,
If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
Puritan John Hooper writes:
Love of man necessarily arises out of the love of God. The love of the creature is but the corollary to the love of the Creator. This is what the Christian finds, as a matter of fact. His heart is overwhelmed with love to God. It finds its way out in love to man. His direct service of God cannot, in the nature of things, go very far. He worships God publicly in His house. He glorifies Him secretly in the constant outpourings of his heart. He gives himself to the maintenance of every cause which is God’s cause. But here it ends. God is so mighty, so self-contained, that with all puny efforts, much cannot be done to serve Him. So, the Christian looks about to see how he is to show his love for God. He soon finds the way. Clearly, it must be by love for his fellow-men.[1]
Hopefully this is enough to convince you of the connectedness between our love for God and our love for our neighbor. Not only do these two aspects summarize God’s will for our lives, but I also believe God has given us unique opportunities due to both COVID-19 and the great and righteous outcry over the senseless death of George Floyd on May 25th. In this post I want to focus in particular on the rhetoric about Covid-19 and how much of it is not helpful and definitely not loving.
Christians are called to perform the good works that God has prepared beforehand for them to walk in (Eph. 2:10).
As an example, I actually read in the paper recently of someone saying we are not to fear this “so-called virus.” Now, I am not weighing in on the severity of the virus or whether the response to COVID-19 has been appropriate or not, but to refer to it as a “so-called virus” is quite an insult and insensitive to the tens of thousands in the United States who have lost loved ones to this virus.
The problem is, this was written by someone who was writing as a Christian. This is not loving our neighbor as ourselves and is not helpful as a witness to a lost world. In Ephesians 2:1-10, we are taught that we are to be trophies of God’s grace. One way in which this happens is by performing the good works that God has prepared beforehand for us to walk in (Eph. 2:10). I am convinced that means living in love towards those around us.
We need to read 1 Corinthians 13 in its proper context.
So, what does this look like? In a broad way, it looks like 1 Corinthians 13:4-8:
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.
This chapter has been referred to as the “Love Chapter,” which is appropriate because it mentions love directly or indirectly over a dozen times. Probably no other passage gives us a more complete picture of love. Unfortunately, so many read the chapter apart from its context. This chapter occurs in a letter to a church that had all kinds of problems (possibly one of the most problematic churches in history). These words were not written with the intent of providing a wedding text to the church but to show a church of extremely self-centered people that there is a better way to live.
We need the way of love in approaching the complex questions involving COVID-19.
You see, America today resembles the church of Corinth—both are sharply divided over theology/ideology, social class, and varying views on how to approach different circumstances. Both are driven by a group mentality in which people are vocal about expressing who they follow (my leader/party/perspective is better than yours). Two thousand years ago, Paul wrote to the church in Corinth that there was a “better way”—the way of love. The same is true for us today. We need the way of love.
So, what does this look like in practical ways? First, it means being sensitive to the concerns and opinions of others who disagree with you with regard to COVID-19. This might mean we do or refrain from doing things because of the opinion of others. So, whether you think this is a bunch of hooey or the greatest threat we have encountered in the last hundred years is not the point. We are not to “insist on our own way” but instead we need to die to ourselves and be sensitive to others.
Our actions and attitudes need to reflect that love “is not arrogant.”
Second, we must not claim to be all-knowing. We truly are in uncharted waters. Despite what anyone says, no one is truly all-knowing. Even the “experts” are learning as they go, and no one completely understands everything about COVID-19. Thus, our actions and attitudes need to reflect that love “is not arrogant.”
So many tend to think there are simple answers to the complex questions involving COVID-19. We assume solving major problems—whether in virus protocols, predicting human behavior, in economics, or in government policy—is a matter of common sense. We believe and live as if everything is obvious and we naturally know what is best. This is not true nor is it loving. In the end, it is arrogant and does not contain the humility which love would require.
Third, in the midst of the oppressiveness of everything involved with COVID-19, we must not grow weary in doing good. We must live in such a way that “love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” The world must see that COVID-19 is not greater than our love for God and others. It cannot and must not win over either our faith or the living out of our faith in the day-to-day affairs of life.
Those we come in contact with must see that we are a people of hope. We must continue to be a voice of encouragement, continue to offer kind words and actions, continue to provide a positive view on the circumstances of each day, and continue to look for moments to share the reason for the hope that is in us (1 Pet. 3:15).
As God’s children may we be those who are running after love.
First Corinthians 13 ends with a simple command—“pursue love” (1 Cor. 14:1). The verb conveys the idea of someone going hard after love. In his book Charity and Its Fruit, Jonathan Edwards writes “that those who profess themselves Christians should live in love, and abound in the works of love.” May this be said of us—that we are those who are running after love. In the words of “Speak O Lord,” that “the light of Christ might be seen today in our acts of love and our deeds of faith.” We are enabled and empowered to love this way because we are loved with an everlasting love.
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Notes:
[1] John Hooper, A Puritan Golden Treasury, compiled by I.D.E. Thomas (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2007), 176.