“Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.” ~ Rom. 12:10
The current politically charged climate with reopening churches has led us to consider how to best approach moving forward together toward reopening.
The difficulty, of course, is that there are strong opinions regarding when and how to reopen, as well as the danger of the virus, and the best ways to protect those we love.
Issues of the conscience
The difficulty for each of us is that there is nothing written in the Scripture that guides the specific decisions we make about reopening, or decisions for each congregant about when to attend church.
For some, COVID-19 is little more than a flu. They may feel excited to begin church again, and have little concern regarding the disease or taking personal precautions.
For others, however, they are in a higher risk category, or would like to guard themselves from the potential for getting the disease. They may also wish to protect high risk loved ones who could be affected.
Either of these responses is completely valid. There are no verses that inform our response to COVID-19, and so these responses fall into the category of conscience.
Love and honor
Regardless of how each conscience is informed, as we begin the process of reopening, our love for one another over these conscience issues is far more important than the disease itself.
We must remember that, when it comes to conscience issues, we are called to love each other as brothers, and to outdo one another in showing honor.
This disease has caused strong opinions on every side. If we turn against one another in judgment and critique each other, the damage to the church will be far greater than what was caused by the disease itself!
We must outdo one another in showing honor for each other. We must love one another with brotherly affection. These, rather than the specific logistics of our next meeting, are the commands we must obey during this season.
Guarding the heart
The danger, of course, is not ONLY that we speak words of judgment. We are generally wise enough to keep our mouths closed and not express our thoughts.
The greatest danger is for us to think judgmental thoughts, and dishonor each other in our hearts, over a conscience issue.
Instead, we must guard our hearts. We must remember that thoughts of judgment in areas of conscience are sinful, and we must repent of those and love and honor one another instead.
