Don’t Allow this Pandemic Go to Waste
Rev. K.L. Leung
  1. If you do not believe that God permitted this pandemic to happen, then you have allowed this pandemic to go to waste. Whatever happened, God allowed it to happen. Matthew 10:29, “Aren’t two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s consent.”
  2. If you set your sights only on the outward work of preventing this pandemic and have not allowed the Holy Spirit to do the work of preventing a sin pandemic, then you have allowed this pandemic to go to waste. Do you condone sinful behavior: pride, greed, hatefulness, being contentious, treacherous…just like before?  Don’t just overcome the pandemic, let it remind you that you also need to overcome your sinful nature. Psalms 51:10, “God, create a clean heart for me and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”
  3. If you refuse to consider death as a present reality, then you have allowed this pandemic to go to waste. Luke 9:25, “What is a man benefited if he gains the whole world, yet loses or forfeits himself?” Psalms 90:12, “Teach us to number our days carefully so that we may develop wisdom in our hearts.”
  4. If you only hope that this pandemic might soon quickly pass so that you might return to your normal lives and not consider the heart of God in the matter and cherish Christ even more, then you have allowed this pandemic to go to waste. Colossians 3:1 “So if you have been raised with the Messiah, seek what is above, where the Messiah is, seated at the right hand of God.”  At this moment, the Lord wants you to be spiritually awakened, to be sensitive to the things eternal, the salvation of our Lord Jesus Christ and stop doing the mundane.
  5. If you spend most of your time reading up the latest on this pandemic and not spend enough time reading the Word of God, then you have allowed this pandemic to go to waste.  It is not wrong to be knowledgeable about the pandemic but don’t do it at the expense of knowing your God. Don’t be a loser! Psalms 1:2-3, “Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night. He is like a tree planted beside streams of water that bears its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.”
  6. If you do not use this pandemic as an opportunity to allow it to testify to the reality of Christ and to the glory of God, then you have allowed this pandemic to go to waste. Christians do not just simply appear in any place by chance, they are there for a reason – for God’s purpose. II Timothy 4:2, “Proclaim the message; persist in it whether convenient or not; rebuke, correct, and encourage with great patience and teaching.”  When we see Christians in Wuhan, China passing out Christian tracts and face masks unhindered, we know that this pandemic provides us with a good opportunity to witness to the glory of God.
*The scripture portions quoted are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible.
Rev. K.L. Leung is the past President of the Alliance Bible Seminary, Hong Kong
From Chinese Baptist Fellowship of the United States and Canada email list.
不要浪費了這次疫情
梁家麟牧師
  1. 1. 如果你不相信疫情是上帝允許的 ，你就浪費了這次疫情。  凡事的發生，都有上帝的允許。太 10: 29 若是你們的父不許，一個麻雀也不能掉在地上。
  2. 如果你只注意外面的防疫，而沒有靠聖靈防備罪疫，你就會浪費這次疫情。你是否在容忍罪 : 自誇，貪婪，仇恨，爭競，詭詐…..和疫情沒來時一樣呢？不要只想著勝過疫情，而是疫情提醒你勝過罪性。詩 51: 10 神啊，求你為我造清潔的心，使我裏面重新有正直的靈。
  3. 如果你拒絕考慮死亡，你就會浪費了這次疫情。路 9: 25 人若賺得全世界，卻喪失了自己，賠上自己，有什麼益處呢。詩篇90: 12求你指教我們怎樣數算自己的日子，好叫我們得著智慧的心。
  4. 如果你只盼望疫情盡快止住，只為著活下去和正常生活，而不尋求明白神的心意和更珍惜基督，你就會浪費這次疫情。西 3: 1你們若真與基督一同復活，就當求在上面的事，那裡有基督坐在神的右邊。上帝希望你的靈魂甦醒，疫症時不必要的事都停頓了，讓你醒覺永恆的事，基督的救恩。
  5. 如果你花太多時間閱讀關於疫情資訊，卻沒有足夠時間讀神的話語，你就浪費了這次疫情。了解關於疫情情況並沒有錯，如導致了解神的熱情減少，就必受虧損。詩 1: 2-3 惟喜愛耶和華的律法，晝夜思想，這人便為有福。他要像一棵樹栽在溪水旁，按時候結果子，葉子也不枯乾。凡他所做的盡都順利。
  6. 如果你沒有好好利用這次疫情，讓它成為基督真實和榮耀的見證，你就在浪費這次疫情。基督徒不是偶然出現在任何一個地方的，他在任何處境都有神的美意。提後 4: 2 務要傳道，無論得時不得時，總要專心。今次疫症讓武漢的基督徒在街頭佈道派單張及口罩而沒被禁止。所以，疫情也是見證神榮耀的好機會。
梁家麟牧師是香港建道神學院前任院長