Covid19.
Quarantine.
Social Distancing.
These are the list of words we often encounter today in 2020. These words receive different kinds of responses from different people. For example, fear, anxiety and restlessness are common things I often felt during this time of crisis. I had difficulties in sleeping , lately. My mind was roving here and there, pondering over possibilities in the future, busy casting out worst-case scenarios if ‘things’ do happen.
Surprisingly, someone said to me that when there is challenge, there is also an opportunity. In the beginning of my quarantine at home (thankfully, with my family), I failed to see this ‘opportunity’ talked about, because I was busy worrying and clinging on grey presumptions and thought that opportunities are slipping away from my fingers. For a moment, I forgot that imperfectness exists in order to be made perfect. What does it mean?
Here is a mind-blowing statement made by 2 Corinthians 12:9
But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
(2 Corinthians 12:9 ESV)
So, what’s the connection with this ‘opportunity’? One may put it bluntly like this: “what’s in it for me?” You would not be surprised if I say that this is an opportunity for us to cling tightly to God, since we are in a “weak” condition as 2 Corinthians 12:19 recited, for it is indeed a natural way of humans to think of themselves in a self-centered way (yes, to describe it roughly, no offense intended). But, what if God is not interested in what we can do for ourselves? What if He is far more interested in what HE can do FOR US? Well, let me tell you; quarantine made me realize the real definition of ‘opportunity’ is not for me to use.
David knows that God is always thinking of us, instead of himself, as said by the following verses:
Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O Lord! How vast is the sum of them! (Psalm 139:17 ESV)
Moreover, God is already thinking of us way before we were born, as Jeremiah 1:15 said:
Before I formed you in the womb, I know you. (Jeremiah 1:15 ESV)
Because Jesus loves us so much more than his own life, He decides that the opportunity to rescue us in our darkest hours is worth the risk. Even more, it’s worth the cross, the rejection He received and the cost of HIS own life.
In the end, we absolutely have no right at all to claim the sentence “what’s in it for me?” Why? Because that sentence wholly belongs to Jesus. We did exactly nothing to earn the right to use the real definition of ‘opportunity’, because we have sinned fall short of His glory (Romans 3:23). Then, “what’s in it” for Jesus? The answer is that so He can obtain the opportunity, again and again, in each of our darkest hours, to come to our rescue. Because of LOVE. It doesn’t matter how many times His love got rejected by our heart of stone, as long as He has the opportunity to try again, until we finally surrender and willing to take His hand. As long as there’s the opportunity to rescue us, He will do it, whatever it takes.
Jesus has fully earned every right to use the real definition of ‘opportunity’ because of the cross.
The following Bible verses exactly describes His loving thoughts towards us:
But God shows His for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8 ESV)
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. (Ephesians 2:4 ESV)
We love because He FIRST loved us. (1 John 4:19 ESV)
Hence, as 1 John 4:19 reminds us that the very word ‘first’ marks the emphasis of opportunity, I can conclude that there is one more word that should be added to my list:
Covid19. Quarantine. Social Distancing. Opportunity.
Right now, let’s think it over. Whose ‘opportunity’ is it? Is it our opportunity, or God’s opportunity? Figuring out the answer may take time, but noting down this fact in our mind in the following sentence takes no time: Jesus is coming to your rescue because He is not giving up on you.
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For more info, questions, comments, critics or any random remarks, feel free to contact me from my Instagram DM @debrakalauserang :)) And yes, Star Wars is definitely my thing.
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