JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN DO SOMETHING IT DOESN'T MEAN THAT YOU SHOULD
As England is moving gingerly out of lockdown and we in Wales are following a few cautious steps behind. The COVID-19 alert level moves down from 4 to 3 and the UK government is looking at reducing social distancing. It leaves me a little concerned that people might go a little crazy with their freedoms.
I remember when I turned 18 and suddenly, I was free to do so much that I could not do at 17 I went a little crazy. Thankfully though I had been gradually entrusted with increasing freedoms and responsibilities by my parents for years and so the change was not so big and I had learned to manage risk. Unfortunately not all of my peers had had the same experience, being wrapped in cotton wool almost until the age of 18 and then being allowed to go clubbing, go on 18-30 holidays, go to parties etc. The sudden rush of freedom went to their heads and frankly, I am not sure that they remember their lives between 18 and 20.
The point is that we could get overly excited at being allowed to do things which we were not previously allowed to do. It may go to our heads and we may try and do all of them at once. This is not just dangerous for us but for the people around us.
Not surprisingly the Bible offers some wisdom in this area. When Paul was writing to the new church in Corinth he knew that they were dealing with sudden new found freedoms in being followers of Christ. Salvation from the effects of sin was a heady thing after so long of being taught that you could only stay on the right side of God or the Gods by offering sacrifices. Paul makes clear that just because Jesus had paid the price for their sin it did not mean that they should just keep sinning.
He also wanted them to know that just because they no longer lived under the crushing weight of the Jewish scriptural laws, it did not mean that everything they could do now was good for them. Sure, bacon is brilliant now you don’t have to keep kosher but let me tell you about cholesterol.
1 Corinthians 10:23-24
23 “All things are lawful”, but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful”, but not all things build up. 24 Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbour.
Romans 6:1-4
6 What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
In short, just because we can do something, it does not been that we have to. The virus is still out there, some people are still very vulnerable. It is great that you can go to IKEA now but maybe standing in line with a few hundred other people so you can go in to buy a shelf, and come out with 4 pot plants, a new set of drinking glasses, some plastic storage, a jar of lingonberry jam and a bookshelf, is not the best thing for everyone.
Look out for each other, stay safe.
God bless
