A terrible storm came into a town and local officials sent out an emergency warning that the riverbanks would soon overflow and flood the nearby homes. They ordered everyone in the town to evacuate immediately.
A faithful Christian man heard the warning and decided to stay, saying to himself, “I will trust God and if I am in danger, then God will send a divine miracle to save me.”
The neighbors came by his house and said to him, “We’re leaving and there is room for you in our car, please come with us!” But the man declined. “I have faith that God will save me.”
As the man stood on his porch watching the water rise up the steps, a man in a canoe paddled by and called to him, “Hurry and come into my canoe, the waters are rising quickly!” But the man again said, “No thanks, God will save me.”
The floodwaters rose higher pouring water into his living room and the man had to retreat to the second floor. A police motorboat came by and saw him at the window. “We will come up and rescue you!” they shouted. But the man refused, waving them off saying, “Use your time to save someone else! I have faith that God will save me!”
The flood waters rose higher and higher and the man had to climb up to his rooftop.
A helicopter spotted him and dropped a rope ladder. A rescue officer came down the ladder and pleaded with the man, "Grab my hand and I will pull you up!" But the man STILL refused, folding his arms tightly to his body. “No thank you! God will save me!”
Shortly after, the house broke up and the floodwaters swept the man away and he drowned.
When in Heaven, the man stood before God and asked, “I put all of my faith in You. Why didn’t You come and save me?”
And God said, “Son, I sent you a warning. I sent you a car. I sent you a canoe. I sent you a motorboat. I sent you a helicopter. What more were you looking for?"
Pitts’ point was that during this ongoing coronavirus crisis, churches all over the country have been defying restrictions on social gatherings. He noted one CNN reporter asking a woman leaving a service in Ohio if she was concerned about exposing herself to the virus. She replied, “No, because I’m covered in Jesus’ blood.” In other words, she had faith that God would protect her; she would be saved.
Pitts said, “One can almost hear a voice from on high saying, “I sent you social distancing. What more do you want?” He continued, “Sometimes, the faithful make faith a gauntlet, a test you must pass in order to prove you believe what you say you believe…that gauntlet can also be foolish…God loved us enough to give us Jesus. But nothing about that great gift is at odds with protecting oneself in a pandemic. After all, God loved us enough to give us science too.”
I say, God loved us enough to give us free will. Will we use it wisely? Here at Christ the King, we do. Our "live-stream" gatherings are proof of that wisdom.
Deacon David Pierce
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