Take a close look at the picture that accompanies this post. It’s an image of the temporary green fence in my backyard. I erected it because I have a multi-day project going on replacing my wooden fence and I needed something to contain our dog while I work on it.
See the red markings at the bottom of the fence? Those markings were put there by our electric utility after I put up that fence. They prove that I came within inches of electrocuting myself when I pounded that metal stake in the ground (and four others as well).
I assumed, wrongly, that the public underground electric utility ran along the property line with the fence. So I “called before I dug,” as I’ve warned my men’s ministry team members to do many, many times.1
But I thought, “While I’m waiting for Xcel Energy to come out and mark my utilities. I’m going to get a leg up and erect my temporary fence.”
Now I have a very healthy respect for electricity, but I am not irrationally terrified by electricity. I know under what circumstances it will hurt me and possibly kill me, and I know under what circumstances it won’t. In other words, I fear electricity, but I am not afraid of electricity.
I also know that all it takes is one misstep when handling electricity – one thoughtless, cavalier moment – and boom, I’m a dead man. And that is what almost happened with my temporary fence. I “called before I dug,” but I didn’t “call before I poked.” For a brief while, I didn’t fear electricity like I should have and it almost killed me.
This distinction between fearing something and being afraid of something applies precisely to our current COVID-19 pandemic. When a church takes the appropriate precautions against COVID 2 so that it guarantees the well being of its members, it’s not demonstrating an irrational fear of COVID, or even worse, a lack of faith in God to protect us. It’s simply showing a healthy respect and understanding of what the virus can do and how that danger can be mitigated. The church’s healthy fear of COVID means it doesn’t have to be afraid of COVID.
Some Christians think that in order to demonstrate faith during this pandemic, taking the appropriate precautions is almost a sin. Take for example the following comment I received on my last post about opening up churches:
“I know mature believers can disagree; so from my perspective, your response to the government shutdown flies in the face of Psalm 23:4 and a thousand other places of biblical instruction. It seems that exact timidity that Paul says we ought not to have (2 Timothy 1:7).”
But having a healthy fear of COVID isn’t timidity, it’s reality. And it’s the reality we’re going to have to live and worship with for several more months. Reopening your church without adequately respecting that reality will result in some of your church members dying avoidable and horrible deaths.
And, finally, here’s another reality we’re going to have to deal with. It’s the reality that someday we all are going to stand before God and give an account of our lives. The Bible says that we all stand condemned before a holy God (Romans 3:23). Why? Because we haven’t feared him the way we should.
The Bible also says that when we place our faith in Jesus Christ as the one who paid the penalty for our sin, God forgives us and gives us eternal life (John 3:16). The result: as Christians, we fear God, but we are not afraid of God.
This post first appeared in NewCommandment.org.
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