Choose To Live In The Spirit
The Spirit Is A Peaceful Place To Practice “Shelter-in”
by Eric Elkin
Good morning Bible. What words of eternal life do you have for us today? “To set the mind on the flesh is death.” Not exactly the inspiration we were looking for this day. It’s hard not to keep your thoughts away from the flesh when hypersensitive about your cough, temperature, runny nose, and headaches.
My mind is set on flesh today. All this washing is starting to take its toll on my hands. The backside of my left hand is really chaffed and raw. So I have added another tier to my washing routine. Wet my hands, turn off the water, soap, scrub, rinse, and dry. Now I have added apply hand lotion to my process. The upside is my hands feel better and smell very pretty.
Not to be trite about the toll on the flesh. The unavoidable reality is more people will get sick, and more people will be left critically compromised by the virus. It would be foolish and irresponsible for us not to be mindful of our own flesh and the welfare of our neighbors at this time.
Yesterday, Governor Tim Walz gave a clear, direct, and somber message to the people of Minnesota. If you are not from this state, it is worth watching. He presented two scenarios; what would happen if we did nothing and if we took precautionary steps. The situations were a collaborative effort of leading researchers from Minnesota and across the nation.
The dark part of the speech was the same amount of people got sick in both scenarios. We are no longer able to reduce the curve of people getting sick. What we are now trying to accomplish is to lessen the number of critical outcomes. See, with news like that, it is hard not to keep your mind on the flesh.
The governor’s speech was like this one sentence from Romans. The dark side comes first. Optimism and hope are found in the second half. The listener or the reader are left to decide where they want to focus their attention. Do you want your mind on death or the spirit?
The “Shelter-In” order given by the governor is not martial law. No one is going to get arrested for violating the order. He was calling all of us to a sense of community. Asking us to commit ourselves to the greater good right now. Then he encouraged people to live in the spirit.
Yesterday, every time I talked to someone, I heard stories of people living in the spirit. Families were spending their evenings playing board games. Grandchildren were sending videos to their grandparents. Outside on a walk, I saw a family conducting a scavenger hunt. Three friends in their 30s were climbing a tree. We have seen more people outside walking then I can remember. A neighborhood in St. Paul was out it the streets doing exercises together.
The reality is, every day, we have a choice to live in death or to live in the spirit. The coronavirus pandemic is only shining a light on this reality. Living in the spirit is not protection from difficulty. It is a light making visible signs of life where some only see sadness. It is this life that calms our hearts with peace. I hope you can find a way to not only live in the spirit but to dwell in it. It is a peaceful place to practice shelter-in.
Click to read Romans 8: 6-11
Reflection Questions:
Where do you find your mind becoming consumed with the pandemic?
How can you break yourself from these thoughts and create a diversion?
How are you finding a way to Iive in the spirit?
Where can you be peace to others while in isolation?