PRAY TO GOD, AND WASH YOUR HANDS - Pray for God’s protection… then sanitize your house and take your medicine. Do both — prayer and preparation. while you should be ready to serve your neighbor when needed, in the meantime, practice social distancing - don’t go around to people you do not need to see, and to places where you don’t need to be, to help avoid spreading the disease. There have been many epidemics throughout the history of the church. In 1527, there was an outbreak of plague in Martin Luther’s city. Many asked Luther for advice. Here’s some of what he told them: I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall fumigate, help purify the air, administer medicine, and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance infect and pollute others, and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me, however, I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely, as stated above. Pray for God’s protection… then sanitize your house and take your medicine. Do both — prayer and preparation. While you should be ready to serve your neighbor when needed, in the meantime, practice social distancing.

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Pray to God, and Wash Your Hands

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Pray for God’s protection… then sanitize your house and take your medicine. Do both — prayer and preparation - while you should be ready to serve your neighbor when needed, in the meantime, practice social distancing - don’t go around to people you do not need to see, and to places where you don’t need to be, to help avoid spreading the disease

by Shawn Lazar in Blog - Coronavirus, Martin Luther

How should Christians act during the coronavirus epidemic?

There have been many epidemics throughout the history of the church.

For example, in 1527, there was an outbreak of plague in Martin Luther’s city of Wittenberg.

Since Luther was a pastor’s pastor, many asked him for advice. Here’s some of what he told them:

I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall fumigate, help purify the air, administer medicine, and take it.

I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance infect and pollute others, and so cause their death as a result of my negligence.

If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others.

If my neighbor needs me, however, I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely, as stated above (AE 43, “Whether One May Flee from a Deadly Plague,” p. 132).

Pray for God’s protection… then sanitize your house and take your medicine.

Do both — prayer and preparation.

And as Luther also said, while you should be ready to serve your neighbor when needed, in the meantime, practice social distancing, i.e., don’t go around to people you do not need to see, and to places where you don’t need to be, to help avoid spreading the disease.

Even though he wrote five hundred years ago, Luther could have given the same advice this morning.

For the sake of your neighbors, I recommend following it!

by Shawn Lazar

Shawn Lazar is the Editor of Grace in Focus magazine and Director of Publications for Grace Evangelical Society. He and his wife Abby have three feral children. He is an ordained Baptist pastor. He has a BTh from McGill University and an MA from the Free University of Amsterdam. He has written two books: Beyond Doubt: How to Be Sure of Your Salvation and Chosen to Serve: Why Divine Election Is to Service, Not to Eternal Life.

Grace Evangelical Society (GES) was founded in 1986 to promote the life-giving truth that God offers man the free gift of everlasting life through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, apart from works done before or after the new birth (John 3:16; 5:24; 6:35, 47; 11:26).

Another of our aims is to promote Christian growth by emphasizing the Biblical truths about eternal security, assurance, and eternal rewards. Read more about what we believe.

https://faithalone.org/blog/pray-to-god-and-wash-your-hands/