John Piper, the chancellor and professor of Bethlehem College & Seminary in Minneapolis, Minnesota has shared the message about how Christians do fight their coronavirus fear through scriptures found in Romans chapter 8 with his thoughtful reflections.
In an episode of "Ask Pastor John" posted to Desiring God last month, the Reformed Baptist pastor encouraged Christians to remember that the unshakable peace and fearlessness that Christians have is rooted in reality.
"I don't want to just start saying, since you asked me about fear, 'Fear not, everybody! Fear not, everybody! Fear not, everybody!'" Pastor John said.
"There are glorious, rock-solid, indestructible reasons and warrants and grounds and foundations for not being afraid of what the coronavirus can do to your health or to your business or to your family or to the economy or to Western civilization or to history as we know it. There are foundations in reality not to fear any of this," He added.
"My question is, 'who is it that can have warranted, well-founded, justifiable, God-given, God-sustained freedom from fear and unshakable, sweet, abiding contentment?" The pastor asked and shared the Bible verse Romans 8:28.
"We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."
He emphasized that those who love God and those who are called according to his purpose should enjoy the fearlessness and peace that "absolutely everything around this coronavirus is working together for their eternal good."
At the end, he concluded his message by mentioning four foundations that Romans 8 gives which is greater foundations than anything in the world has to offer. This is what "the virus cannot take from us."
First, for those who are in Christ, there is now no condemnation and no punishment(Romans 8:1). It happened at Calvary and that is wonderful.
Secondly, God's willingness to sacrifice his only Son for the called ones who love him means that he will not withhold anything from them for their eternal good(Romans 8:32). So, we need to glorify God and have everlasting joy in this guarantee during coronavirus time.
Thirdly, nobody who is called by God will fail to attain eternal glory(Romans 8:30). None of the called is lost-ever.
Lastly, nothing can "separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus"(Romans8:39) and that includes death and coronavirus. "In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us" (Romans8:37)
