Gospel Driven Work In The COVID-19 CrisisPrimjer

Yesterday, we looked at Philippians 1 and how Paul used his time of isolation to “advance the gospel.” One of the ways we can use our own time of relative isolation to do this is by following Paul’s commands in today’s Scripture reading to “value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others” (Philippians 2:3-4).

It’s easy to pay lip-service to this ideal when the world is relatively healthy physically and economically. It’s an entirely other thing to live out expressions of the gospel in times like the moment we’re living in today.

How practically can we value others above ourselves during this time? The answer to that question will of course look different for each of us based on our vocational roles and financial situations. But here are a few ideas.

Stay at home. Most of us are under orders or strong advisement from government authorities to self-distance from others. “Value others above yourselves” by following these directives, volunteering to sacrifice some personal freedoms for the well-being of your neighbors. 

Volunteer to take a pay-cut in order to save the jobs of others. Very few people can afford to do this, but the ones that do have the privilege of preaching the gospel through dramatic action.

Give more generously than usual. Last week, I spoke with a friend who runs a digital marketing agency. While his business has not been hit hard yet by the current crisis, he has reason to believe it could be. But after a lot of prayer, he decided to step out in faith and pay the rent of his favorite local coffee shop that was tinkering on bankruptcy. Actions like these may look foolish to some, but to those coffee shop owners, it looks like the gospel in action.

What I’m suggesting here is hard. But you know what was unfathomably harder? Paying for the penalty of our sins. We are called to model the self-sacrificial life of Jesus. Let us all look for creative ways to model his gospel as we work through this crisis.