Audio Version read by Cheryl. invisible-yet-invincible-1.mp3

Life is terrifying! Now we have the Coronavirus menacing a worldwide pandemic to add to all the other issues that threaten our existence. We don’t usually have to face our mortality so intensely, even though it is an inescapable reality for all of us. People are starting to cocoon and avoid contact with others in response to the threat. Normal preventative hygiene is elevated to a critical level of importance . Airlines are running ghost flights. Masks, hand sanitizer and other staples are flying off the shelves. We are again painfully reminded of our vulnerability and trying desperately to withstand it. One would think people would be flocking to church and religious material would be flying off the shelves to address the more foundational hazards that accompany the prospect of imminent destruction. That scenario hasn’t been reported yet! Interesting the general response of a threatened populace – fear, blame, isolation and of course the punting of yet another political football. The “security” enjoyed by our relative economic success proves tentative at best. The consequences of a little microscopic entity are massive and world shaping on many levels. Can we insulate ourselves from a universe that, with all its magnificence, seems bent on our destruction? Nope!

This is yet another time that I am so relieved to be wrapped in the loving arms of an all powerful Creator. He comforts in hardship and tragedy, He speaks words of hope into chaos, and He challenges us to trust in the face of bewilderment. His critics will undoubtedly use this horror as another proof that God cannot be good to allow such suffering and pain. Although that seems to be a common response to unfair, uncertain, unclear realities, it seems to me as a student of God, to be superficial blame shifting. After all, His original creation was declared ‘good’ many times over in the recorded process. ‘Very good’ at the creation of mankind! (Although that’s a hard one to swallow at times.) Choice was a gift that undid His intentions of cooperative rulership (if you have authority issues with the ascendency of man, translate that to ‘stewardship’). His plan was to partner with us in ordering and enhancing this lovely planet. Micromanaging is not His way. His creatures instead opted to institute the hereditary idol of self-will, choosing to decide for themselves what constituted good and evil. Now, as a result, all of nature as well as the human race, must bear the aftermath of their willful illusion of godhood. How did that work out for us all? The very first human story chronicles the fruit of that slightly off center tree of knowledge with homicide! Man over God, then man over man. And the beat goes on. Who unleashed the toils and ills that have plagued us throughout our war-torn sin-ravaged history? Was it God? Or was it, like gravity, a universal law that humans themselves set into motion with presumptive pride?

Good news! Evil will indeed end! Man’s misguided self-worship will be eradicated. Eden will be restored, but with a regenerated race – a people accepting their role as facilitators and managers, not owners. Their identities will transcend mortal limitation and values, having been reformatted to love righteousness as defined by their King. And they will administer His kingdom – in cooperation with other as yet invisible creatures. Fantastic story?! Great science fiction, but one which Jesus Himself (aka – the Truth) came to tell. So if it sounds unbelievable, you will have to take it up with HIm.

Let me be clear – I am not an end of the world fanatic – although it seems imminent for several reasons. But I am one hundred percent sure that the end of my world is fast approaching. And yours. Whether the coronavirus, cancer, a car crash, or old age brings us down, there is no escape. The question we must ask ourselves is whether or not we are prepared to step over the threshold into the unseen realm. Is uncertainty paralyzing? The reality is we are undoubtedly trusting something, and now would be a perfect time to evaluate our actions and see what we really believe. Our belief system prompts our behavior. Intellectual ideas may seem to be our truth, but the litmus test is how we interact with the world we have been given. A little soul sanitizer is in order. If indifference is your poison, that is not only ill conceived but dangerous. If it is fear, there is One who repeatedly told us to “Fear not!” and called us to follow. If it is skepticism, there are answers to be had if one is open. “Seek and find.” The road to soul destruction (not annihilation) is wide, well advertised, and heavily trafficked. Why not use this pandemic threat to recalibrate your roadmap and make certain of your destiny?

I submit that there is another invisible yet powerful reality that wafts in the air. The thin curtain between temporality and immortality rustles slightly in the breeze of world events, teasing our hearts to something beyond what we see with our eyes. A hope for a world without tragedy. A soft whisper to “Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God – believe in Me.” A quiet voice that is easily drowned out by doubt, skepticism, intellectual arrogance, cultural disdain, and the din of the world. But He is the only One Who has already been to where we are going. Trust Him and find peace!!

Discussion is welcome!