COVID-19 has upended daily lives, work, and livelihoods for many of us. Entire industries are shutting down at least temporarily or dramatically changing, unemployment claims are surging, and people worry about their futures and how to make ends meet. As Christians, we can trust God’s sovereignty and cast our cares and concerns on him (Romans 8:28-30, Phil. 4:4-7, etc.) but this doesn’t mean we or those around us won’t have material needs. Today, I want to remind us – and me – to look for and be ready to help meet those needs.

Caring for one another is part of being part of the church body

If things continue the way they seem headed, we’ll likely all know people who have serious needs – financial needs, needs for food, or even emotional needs. I think it’s easy in times of so much life turmoil to get caught up with making sure our own lives are in order and our families are safe and happy – especially so in this time when we aren’t able to meet with one another. However, God calls us to more – to recognize that, as Christians, we are part of Christ’s body and thus we must work to care for the other parts of the body. Romans 12:4-15 gives us a picture of how we can express our love to God in caring for one another as part of the church body:

For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.

A couple aspects of this seem particularly relevant at present – first, it reminds us that we as members of the body have diverse gifts and grace that God has given to us to exercise as he has planned. Several particular gifts are enumerated – serving, teaching, giving, showing mercy, etc. Note that even giving is one of these! But these are all part of the “body membership” that God has for us as part of his people. So, let us ask ourselves – how is he calling us to us our gifts for others in the present trial?

Second, there’s an exhortation to do all of this in the context of love for one another. We’re further reminded to persevere, to be devoted to prayer, and to contribute to the needs of the saints – all of which seem particularly appropriate in this time.

Finally, we have the reminder to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep; we may be faced with the latter some in this time of illness.

It’s also worth noting that this follows close on the heals of Romans 12:1-2, where we are told to offer our bodies as sacrifice to God out of worship. That is, these are not duties to be carried out from a sense of obligation, but out of worship to God.

The early church challenges us in this area

Just after the death and resurrection of Christ, God worked greatly in the early church to bring about this kind of body life, with people loving and caring for one another. What happened was truly remarkable (Acts 2:44-47):

And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God…

Acts 4:32 and 34-35 give even a little more explanation about what was going on:

And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them. For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales and lay them at the apostles’ feet, and they would be distributed to each as any had need.

What happened, then, was that the believers were caught up in their love and gratitude towards God, and this spilled over in love towards one another and vital community life in the church. They recognized everything they had was not their own but was entrusted to them by God, so they were eager to share with one another to meet one another’s needs. Whenever someone had a need, someone else was there to meet it. This was so much the case that “there was not a needy person among them”. They were generous enough that every need was met.

I think our default attitude, as Americans, is nearly the opposite of this. We tend to see it as our job to provide for ourselves and our families, get ahead, ensure a good retirement and so on, and then maybe if there’s extra after all of that, then we could give to meet someone’s needs. At least, I know that’s how I so easily look at things until I remind myself of the truth of Scripture. In reality, though, our money is not our own; it’s a resource or gift entrusted to us by God.

So, I want to let this idea of Acts 2 and 4 sink in so I’ll be ready to help those in need in the midst of this trying time. I’m not saying that Acts 2-4 is prescriptive, telling us what we ought to do; rather, it’s a report of events that happened in the early church. Still, there’s a real challenge here. God loves me so much he sent his son Jesus Christ to die for me, and has given me eternal life through him. More than that, he’s given me everything I need in this life and more. So, out of all that he’s entrusted to me, I want to be ready to help those around me who have needs. God has given me gifts he wants me to use for this purpose.

Let’s watch for needs around us

I hope all of us can join together in watching for needs in the midst of the economic turmoil caused by COVID-19. Not everyone will be called to meet those needs; some are already out of their jobs and on unemployment or are part of the gig economy where all income dried up immediately. But not everyone is called to play the same role in this crisis. 1 Cor. 12:14f discusses the many members of the body and how they have different roles – one might be a hand, one might be an eye, etc. So it is here – one may be called to be an eye in the sense of noticing needs, another a hand in terms of actually delivering to meet that need, and another might be called to provide financially. It’ll take all of us, working together, to care for God’s church and to reach out in aid to the broader community in need around us.

My prayer is that God will help me see how he’s calling me to help in this time personally, and I hope we can all join together in asking how God wants us to serve him in this time – and how we can corporately care for the church body and help the broader community.

*Update: My friend Blaize has a post up on how Hurricane Katrina prepared him for this which touches some of the same ideas at the end; one of his conclusions is this:

the best thing I can do and that we all can do is help one another… *

*Update 2: Here are some concrete ideas for ways to love others in this time