This is not the new normal I was hoping for after cancer, but could this pandemic become a new way of life? I hear a lot of people saying that they want to get back to normal. I have to ask; was "normal" so great? Could it be that God doesn't want us to go back to normal?
In the days of Noah, people were living normal lives without regard to the truth that Noah preached.
When Saul persecuted the church and scattered them abroad throughout the regions, I would imagine that they were hoping to get back to normal too.
In every one of these situations, God had a greater plan for the lives of His people. He wanted them to draw nearer to Him and have a life more abundant with Him, but everyone was too caught up in their normal everyday lives. Have we gotten so consumed with the normal life that we can't see God's handwriting on the wall?
It saddens me to hear the church today speak about missing out on the normal things they do. Many church groups put together a drive-thru Easter egg hunt because they couldn't have a traditional one. We do all these things to reach out, but this may be a time that we should be reaching in. Reaching in to see what God sees, asking Him for His examining eyes to reveal the deepest parts, the hidden stuff, and look past the surface of normal.
"Awake you that sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light. See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil" Ephesians 5:14-16. The church has been asleep in the routines of normal life.
It's about time we wake up and seek God's wisdom, redeem the time to examine, repent, stand, and proclaim. It's about time that we arise and shine the light of Christ to those who are lost in darkness, full of fear, and can't find hope.
Let's stop looking back to normal!
