Living abundantly in the middle of a global pandemic

Kia ora whānau,

I hope you are all doing well as we head into our second and (hopefully) last week of alert level 3. I did not see many of you in the cue at the McDonald's drive-through last week that was nearly at our front door, although I have heard rumours.

I was reminded this morning of a story Jesus told about a foolish man who built his house on the sand. When the storm came his house was washed away. There was another man in this story who built his house on a rock. When the storm came it was not washed away. He told this story at the end of the Sermon on the Mount to warn his listeners about the responsibility they have to respond to his words with action rather than with applause. His words (and thus who he was) was to be the foundation of their actions - the way they lived their lives.

If COVID-19 has completely washed our house away, it was probably not built on a firm foundation. Now, I am not saying that our lives and world have not been dramatically affected by this pandemic - they truly have been. And adjusting to these new circumstances has been stressful and unsettling for most of us. But the source of our identity, security, and hope has not changed. We have always needed to look to Jesus for those things. If he indeed is God, that would be the most sensible place to look.

But Jesus is not just interested in us surviving storms. He wants us to have life in all its fullness - more than enough life - abundant life. A life that is marked by an interactive relationship with God and characterized by faith, hope, love, peace and joy. The ability to survive a storm (or a global pandemic) and the ability to experience the abundant life all come from the same source. Jesus and his words are the foundation of our lives and the way to experience an abundant life. So let's look to him and learn from him.

Keep your eyes on Jesus

Mark