Rahm Emanuel, one in a long line of brass-knuckled, opportunistic Chicago politicians, famously said, “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is [it’s] an opportunity to do things that you think you could not do before.”
There’s a lesson for us in this.
Much virtual ink has been spilled over Christians becoming marginalized in America’s increasingly post-Christian culture. Public prayer and calls for religious freedom are finding themselves the objects of mockery. Followers of Christ who refuse to go along with the new sexual orthodoxy advancing in our schools and workplaces find their livelihoods threatened, their reputations in tatters. Those who hold to the antiquated idea that there are but two sexes are seen as foot soldiers of a new Jim Crow.
And yet the coronavirus pandemic is a crisis—for all its evil and concomitant suffering—that presents the church with an undeniable opportunity. As the frightened pagans, atheists, agnostics, and “nones” around us hoard toilet paper and hand sanitizer, close the borders, and socially distance themselves, we who trust in a loving and sovereign Lord have open doors that we perhaps thought were closed forever.
But, to do this, we will need to re-think our position in the public square. Instead of demanding our way, we must mobilize to serve all, just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many. Stan Guthrie. Breakpoint.
