I have a globe on my desk in my office. I bought it along with another globe for a junior church game awhile back. The game was that I would name a country and the kids would race to find it on the globe. Most of the countries I would pick would be small, like Bhutan or Djibouti. I figured it would be too easy if I picked places like China or the United States. It’s always fun to watch them search and search finally find the country they were looking for. I wonder if I handed a globe to an adult if they would have the same issues or if they would be successful at finding countries on a globe, and I wonder that about myself as well. When I read the Bible, especially Revelation, as I have over the past several weeks for the weekly studies I lead, I get the notion that God created us to live in greater awareness of the world around us instead of our own little world in northwest Ohio, or even our country.
When I was in college, I took a class called Global Cultural Intelligence. I’ll be honest, it sounded daunting at first. I didn’t know what to expect. However, it was one of the most helpful and insightful classes I took at LCU. In the class, we discussed different cultures around the world along with religious statistics in those cultures. It’s where I learned, much to my astonishment, that Indonesia has the most muslims in the world, more than all the middle eastern countries combined, as a matter of fact. The class challenged me to be more aware of what is going on in the world outside of the U.S. In my years of being a Christian and of serving in the church in various ways, I have gotten the impression that not many in the church have a great grasp on the world as a whole, and I’m still not sure I do, which is why I’m still working on it.
I think this fact has only been exacerbated by the pandemic. Many people have been upset at the quarantine and the restrictions we had to deal with in April and May and still continue to deal with today. It’s turned into a political issue, even more so with us being in a major election year, with the presidency at stake in November. A lot of people, Christian and non-Christian alike, feel like the restrictions are an attack at our freedoms and think they are illegal. I don’t want to argue this point because I am not really qualified to. I am merely a youth pastor and not a political/legal expert. However, when I try to figure out if something is right or wrong and the matter is really dealt with in scripture, I think it can be helpful to explore a bigger context, just like when we study the Bible. I could tell you that the Bible says, “’All this I will give you,’ he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.’” At face value, you might get the idea that Christianity is great and if we worship God, he will give us all that we ever want. But if you study the broader context of this claim, you will discover that this is Satan tempting Jesus, trying to get Jesus to bow to him in exchange for all the kingdoms of the world. It changes the meaning, doesn’t it? So, in honor of proper Bible study, I looked at how the world is dealing with the pandemic, because it is still a pandemic. It’s all over the world. Did you know that India is quickly becoming country with the most deaths and cases? Now, you can make the solid argument here that they have a lot more people than the United States. And if you raise that point, then look at France. Another free republic like the United States. They are facing total lockdown again as cases and deaths rise, and maybe by the time you read this, they will be on lockdown once again. They are 7th in the world in COVID-19 deaths and rank 22nd in population among the countries of the world. I know this doesn’t prove that it’s right or wrong to lockdown the country or to have quarantines or regulations, but I wanted to use this opportunity to point out that more is going on in the world than you may realize.
One thing I do know about how the Bible tells us to live in this kind of situation, is that in all cases, we are to love one another. We’re to put our desires and agendas aside, even if the other person/group/team/etc.’s desire and agenda is counter to our own. In reading the book of Revelation, over and over again, I’ve discovered a theme that is common throughout the NT, and that is to be ready to surrender our lives for the sake of Christ. Revelation is about God’s kingdom coming to earth and the biggest way that happens is by Christians laying down their lives and desires and agendas for the bigger picture of bringing people to Jesus. The church grew the most during the first 3 centuries when Christians were willing to die for their faith. That same thing is happening in the Eastern world, in what is called the 10-40 Window. The church’s goal should not be political gain, but rather spiritual gain, and that only comes when we deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Jesus.
“Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: ‘Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.’ (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.)” Revelation 19:6-8 NIV
