Articles
Am I Back?
Are you dying because of COVID?
Covid-19 has taken the physical lives of numerous people over the past 6-7 months in our country, several we knew personally. It has left some lingering health problems with others we know. It has been difficult, and although much like the flu in many cases, it seems to be much more contagious, and doesn't discriminate when it decides who it attacks. In some cases the virus has been very vicious, leaving both death and permanent damage in it's wake.
The death toll is heartbreaking to say the least, families mourning, faces missing, but it seems we are just now starting to see how many people it has also affected spiritually, some with equally damaging results. No, it actually wasn't the virus itself, but the lifestyle changes that our response to Covid brought about. In some cases, people have not resumed where they left off, they found new interests and they have replaced what they used to do with something new. We can't really blame the virus. Perhaps it being in our lives caused us to change, but we fear that in some cases those changes may have contributed to the spiritual illness and in some cases, spiritual death of people we also know personally.
Never in my lifetime have we ever closed church for more than a Sunday when the roads were iced over or the power was out. For us, closing down was drastic, but at the time, considered the proper and physically responsible thing to do to slow the spread of a virus we knew little about. Most people in the church have been back in the worship assemblies after we started meeting again, but there are some empty pews and some missing faces. In many cases, we see these people at work, at Wallyworld, and their kids are in school, but we haven't yet seen them back meeting with the church. We pray fervently that this is a temporary decision, and that they are back worshiping with us again soon.
If we blame Covid for this, we are laying the blame in the wrong place. Yes, missing church for a couple of months may have opened the door for Satan to convince us to stop going, but ultimately each person has to make the decision whether or not they choose to worship with the saints on Sunday. We pray God will renew their desires to make Him and His people #1 again.
This message is meant as an effort to encourage any who have stopped attending the worship services of the Lord's church to reconsider, and come back, and fellowship with the saints as the Lord intends. We know there are still some with an increased potential for a bad outcome from Covid because of underlying health issues, and they are still staying home and have not wavered in their faith. We also know some have dropped the ball concerning church attendance and it isn't for fear of catching the virus anymore that they are not present when the church meets.
If during the short time the doors to the church building were locked Satan convinced you to not go back when they were re-opened, know this, YOU ARE MISSED, WE LOVE YOU, AND WE ARE PRAYING FOR YOU TO COME BACK. We will help you restore your faith and commitment, as we all try to get back on track. It has been hard, harder on some than others. But with God's help, we can all work with each other to restore what we had before the problems came along.
