Making the Best Use of the Time

Intro…

Welcome to the Cornerstone Baptist church podcast. My name is Justin Wheeler, I am the preaching pastor for Cornerstone Baptist Church in Wylie, TX.

It is March of 2020 and we are our city, our country, our world is in the grip of the Coronavirus. This has been unlike anything that I have experienced in my 43 years of life and I’m guessing that you can probably say the same thing. This is truly an unprecedented experience for me and as a result I’m asking a lot of questions to try and figure out what I should be doing.

I think it is wise for us to stay calm and remember that God has not been taken by surprise by all of this and if we are familiar with Scripture, we shouldn’t be all that surprised either. Disease is a common feature of life in this fallen world. When Adam and Eve sinned they unleashed a corruption upon this world that has thoroughly affected every molecule of our existence so that plagues, disease, sickness and even death are normal.

But living in self-isolation, self-quarantine, and not being able to buy toilet paper or bottled water is not all that normal for us. So, what are we to do?

Transition…

As Christians, how are we to live out our day to day lives in the midst of this Coronavirus outbreak? Last week on the podcast, Breck, Jeremy and Mark joined me and they helped us to gain a basic understanding of how we should think about this virus and our immediate response to it as Christians.

Today, I want to continue down that same path but I want to get a little more specific. I want to look at Colossians 4 with you and I want us to consider how we should approach our days in the midst of this current health crisis.

Col 4:2 Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. 3 At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— 4 that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.

5 Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. 6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

Podcast Focus…

This is what our day to day life as a Christian should look like.

I. Devote Yourself to Prayer (v. 2)

Col 4:2 Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.

There is quite a bit for us to consider in just this one verse. But the imperative, the word of command that Paul gives us here is that we should be praying. Yes, I know that you are frustrated about people hoarding resources at the grocery store, and I know you might be frustrated with people who appear to not be taking this virus all that seriously, but don’t spend an inordinate amount of time worrying about that, spend more time in prayer and while you’re praying be thankful.

Just last night as our family gather together for prayer, I asked my kids what they were thinking and how they were feeling about all that is happening in our lives right now. One of my sons mentioned that he missed his friends and that he was sad that he wasn’t going to be able to play baseball. Now, he doesn’t fully understand all that is going on in the world, but he knows that his world has been shaken up quite a bit. So, we spent some time talking about that.

But we also spent a few minutes talking about all the things that we should be thankful for. Most of us should thank God that we aren’t sick. We should thank God that we still have food