In the midst of the quarantine we are living through, our government officials recommend a single plan of action with several steps: Stay home, maintain social distance, cover your mouth and nose with a mask in public, and wash your hands frequently. If you choose not to do so, some may think you are crazy. You may get sick, and you could die.
The quarantine choice is not easy to follow. We do not want to stay at home. We do not expect to fear microscopic particles that we cannot see. On the other hand, a number of people are happy to follow guidelines. On its face, most of us are able to say “Do what you think is best” In the process of making this decision, we dismiss the fact that a wrong choice may mean death for those who choose not to follow the guidelines. The probability may be low, but death could happen.
The low probability means that many people are willing to take a chance. They like the odds that they would be able to survive the circumstance of a pandemic, and if they get sick they will live through it. If the probability was 50/50 that they could get COVID-19 and die, the option not to follow guidelines would be much more strictly followed.
God’s crazy Plan
It becomes an interesting metaphor to realize that Jesus Christ provided a crazy plan about 2000 years ago. His plan was simple. A plan of salvation in which He would be raised from the dead after 3 days. All we have to do is accept His plan and follow Him. It seems like a crazy plan. A small handful of men and women learned from his teachings over three years. They watched him die, only for him to be raised from the dead, then they followed Him and changed the world.
Here is another crazy thought. Take a coin and flip it in the air. If it lands heads, you live. If it lands tails, you get a bullet to the head. Morbid, crazy, yes, Obviously, we never should want to live our lives based on a 50/50 chance. We should want the sure thing. It is more than amazing to realize that God’s plan for us is a sure thing. If we follow Him, we have eternal life. If we do not follow Him, we will end up in hell and the separation from God will be forever — and very unpleasant.
Perhaps you do not believe in hell, and you do not believe that a loving God could ever allow us to suffer forever. The problem is, the choice is up to us. It is not God’s choice. God gave us free will.. If I do not want God in my life, I am not required to accept Him. Why would anyone choose to be separate from God? Think of the most desolate landscape you can imagine. No grass or shrubs or trees. No water, no shade, always very hot or very cold. A place with no life is not a place where we want to be. God is life. take God out of the picture, and we do not even get a desolate land on which to stand!
Nearly 2000 years ago, God had a simple plan. Allow humanity a chance to follow Him, or not. Not based on rules. Not based on a requirement. Simply based on a choice of “yes”, or “no”. Allow a small group of humans to tell the world about God’s plan. Let the timer start. It is kind of crazy. Would you want you life decision to be based on weather or not a small handful of people can deliver a message of hope?
Man’s Decision
Man’s ability to make decisions has not been consistently good: Bad leaders. Corrupt leaders, Greedy leaders. Selfish leaders. Wars and rumors of wars. Suffering, pestilence, earthquakes, storms, and politics.
We can look to the Old Testament, in Judges, to see examples of what happens when a generation turns away from God. In Judges 2 it says “10 After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel.” Israel was in bad shape for decades. If we do not learn the mistakes of the past, we are destined to repeat them.
