The Wages of Sin is COVID?

In one of the Great Adventure Bible studies I was in, the host, Jeff Cavins, made a comment which had a profound effect on me. He said the punishment for sin was that it felt good. Think about that for a minute. What? Feels good? How is that a punishment? How does that square with "the wages of sin are death"? Oddly enough, they fit perfectly.

What is the greatest good? Union with God. What is the effect of sin? Disunion with God - destroying the life of grace within us. If a sin feels good, it makes it all the harder to regain that union with God. In Genesis, Adam was to tend and guard the garden, and Eve was to be the mother of all. The effect of Adam's sin was "cursed is the ground because of you;  in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you" - it became harder to fulfill what God had asked of him. Likewise Eve "I will greatly increase your pangs in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children."

In his book Confessions, St. Augustine talks about how he and a group of other young men stole some pears. They didn't do it for money, or because they were hungry, they did it just for the thrill of having done it. This is the wages of sin. The attachment to the sin itself, which makes it harder for us to do good.

Anyone who's struggled with pornography can attest to what a serious attraction sin can be. Even "smaller" sins, like "white" lies, make it hard for the person to tell the truth, even when it doesn't really matter. Gossip becomes habitual, to the point where we can't resist sharing a bit of information even knowing it will harm someone. God gives us what we ask for. In the Bible Solomon prays for wisdom and gets it. What you sow, so shall you reap.

What does all this have to do with COVID-19? For decades we have been a selfish people. We have shut out our neighbors. Things like social media, which have the capability to unite us, instead divide us and make us more and more isolated. We have developed a utilitarian society as well, where the elderly and the disabled are seen as a burden instead of a blessing.

Along comes COVID-19. Isolation is enforced, we got what we wanted. We are now dependent on the technology that has divided us for years, and instead of talking face to face, we connect in online platforms, where common courtesy is uncommon. The elderly and ill are especially vulnerable to the disease. Tired of visiting mom in the nursing home? Now you have the perfect excuse. In fact, if you're lucky your governor will send COVID patients to the nursing home and mom will not be a burden any more. You don't even have to go through the bother of a big funeral, since you can't have one.

Hate going to church on Sunday? Now you don't have to; in fact you can't. You can watch a video stream in your underwear any time of day or night. Or better yet, you can get free entertainment instead. At least porn sites are up. Don't like paying extra to go to your local store? It's closed. Perfect time to find an online overseas place that sells at a discount.

And you'll be happy to know that the highest priority is making abortions available. Sure you can't get a biopsy of that lump or have that cancerous tumor removed, but at least you can get what you want - no babies. For the days are surely coming when they will say, "Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed."

You can sin all you want, and you don't have to confess it; the churches are closed.

We asked for it, we begged for it. Not begged God, of course, for we ignored Him, but we asked "the powers that be" for it and God heard us nonetheless. We sowed the wind, now we reap the whirlwind.

Proverbs 11:27-29
Whoever diligently seeks good seeks favor,
    but evil comes to the one who searches for it. 
Those who trust in their riches will wither,
    but the righteous will flourish like green leaves. 
Those who trouble their households will inherit wind,
    and the fool will be servant to the wise.

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Non-essential Heroes

My meditation for today:

During this lockdown I have heard praises from every quarter for our "essential" workers, who risk their lives on the front lines everyday to keep us safe. Police, EMS, nurses, truck drivers, etc., and rightly so. Amen! God bless them for their sacrifice!

However, in all this we seem to have forgotten about the "non-essential" workers? How about some praise for those who are giving up their livelihoods, their dignity as workers, and sometimes their life dreams in order to keep us safe? They are sacrificing themselves and their families too, to keep us safe. Let's not ignore their sacrifices. May God bless them and keep them safe, and hopefully restore to them what they have lost and more.

Note also that I put "essential" and "non-essential" in quotes. I object to this nomenclature, because there is no worker, no person in this world who is "non-essential." We are all sons and daughters of God, and as such we all are essential. There is no such thing as a non-essential worker. You might say "But what is meant is that the jobs are non-essential." Well, then we should not call the workers non-essential, but even so, there is no legitimate job that is non-essential.

Consider Jesus' ministry. Going out into crowds proclaiming the Gospel. By the standards of the world their is no worker and no job more non-essential than Jesus and His ministry. Yet it is the most essential thing in the world.

Words matter. Let's get out of the mindset of "essential" and "non-essential" and start talking about "safe" and "unsafe." All jobs are essential. Some may be safer to do than others. And let's remember all those suffering in the name of public safety, not just the ones we can see.

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