If anything, the last 7.5 months have been frustrating for everyone, no matter how you feel about COVID-19. For most of us, the 7.5 months this has lasted has been 7 months too long as we started off with what seemed like an easy…let’s flatten the curve for 2 weeks. We’re all worn out with it, we’re all worn out with how it’s altered our lives. I’ve grown to jokingly refer to the time “Before Covid” as BC. While it’s been a short time in the scheme of things, in other ways it seems like it’s been forever. I’m not sure I’ve lived through a period in my lifetime where there has been more of a longing and conversations about going back to normal. I’m right there with many of you often wishing to get back to normal.
Of course, as with many things in life, that’s where God steps in and for weeks He’s been moving me away from wanting to go back to normal. I’m not saying I’ve arrived but I’m getting closer to being able to say “I don’t want to go back to normal.” That’s tough to say because there is a lot I liked about life before all of this started. Not to mention, normal is what’s comfortable to me. Over the past 7.5 months, just like for many of you, everything has been harder, more inconvenient, required more thought, made us develop new habits, and learn new things. It’s so easy to long for the good ol’ days pre-COVID.
That’s where God has begun to lay on my heart how much of an idol I make in my desire to return to normal. Don’t misunderstand me here, I’m not getting to the point where I’m wanting to wear masks and socially distance the rest of my life, but I do want to look forward, step forward. Think about Lot’s wife, when God had them leave their city as He was about to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, He told her not to look back…essentially saying don’t go back to sin, trust the Lord and look towards Him. What did she do? She looked back and paid the price. She wanted what was normal to her. Think about the Israelites who time after time after time complained about their current situation and longed to go back to Egypt. It’s amazing how quickly we lose sight of the realities of our past. Egypt was where they were enslaved. In much the same way, there isn’t one of us that can look back on our pre-covid life and see perfection. If you can’t look back and see the struggles and challenges of your past then you’re no different than the Egyptians who forgot that going back to Egypt would mean slavery.
God doesn’t waste time. God doesn’t accidently let a pandemic happen. God doesn’t want us to go back to normal. If at the end of COVID-19 we look back and all we accomplished was going back to normal, then we missed God’s work in our lives, in our church, in our nation in a big way. If we’re going to take the next step in our walk with Christ, it means looking forward, away from the idol of normal and the past. Scripture constantly reminds us of where our focus should be:
“Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” – Colossians 3:2
“Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you.” – Proverbs 4:25
“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” – Matthew 6:33
“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” – Isaiah 43:18-19
Our mind should be on God, on eternal things. Our eyes should be looking forward, undistracted by what’s around us. We should seek the kingdom of God. We do not look at the past but look for the new thing that God is doing. Satan has a lot of good tricks up his sleeve. One of them is getting us to focus on going back to normal. I’m hopeful for what God will do, as He does something new. I’m hopeful my focus will be on the things that matter, not the first world petty inconveniences I bemoan so often. I’m hopeful that Christians as individuals will see through the selfishness of our desire to go back to normal. I’m hopeful that Christians will begin to look forward and learn to be more like Christ, more focused on the Great Commandment to Love God first and then to Love People, more focused on the Great Commission than ever before…because those are the things that matter to the kingdom of God. In many ways, COVID has exposed my own selfishness and likely if you’re honest with yourself, your own selfishness as well. Let’s embrace the new thing that God is doing, let’s move forward, let’s work towards being able to say “I don’t want to go back to normal!”.