Applying Ourselves To The Times 把自己应用在时代中
Author: Deacon Daniel Xu
“Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and forever.”
It has been more than a year since we heard of COVID-19 and it has been a rather surreal year. Never had a year felt so long yet passed so quickly. Over the last year, I have heard many pastors and leaders try to make sense of this pandemic, reporting how COVID-19 have impacted their ministry. A few weeks back, Ps Andrew shared that not only did we reacted to the situation well, but by the grace of God, we even grew during the pandemic.
We are thankful that our brothers and sisters were understanding and cooperative to all the changes, and many even stepped up to serve in this exceedingly difficult time.
That said, many of us are thinking that these changes are only going to be for a short period. More and more, we hear from politicians and scientists that this situation is going to take much longer than we expected to resolve. Some say 3 years, 5 years or longer. It is about time we adjusted our posture again.
More than reacting to our situation and adapting to the times, we need to apply ourselves to our generation. I urge you to no longer look forward to when life could go back to “normal” because this is our reality now. We cannot afford be distracted by this pandemic and put the gospel on hold. There is no need to wait for the dust to settle, for the pandemic to clear, for the alerts to be lifted. The urgent call of the gospel remains relevant and the same.
Apply ourselves as salt and light to this world to point this world Jesus in all that we do. Hebrews tells us that Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today, and forever! The message of the gospel is more relevant than ever because what a changing world desperately needs is a never changing God.
Let us we no longer concern ourselves with what it once was, but we look forward to where God is leading us to in this journey. Amen.
文：许燕俊执事
“耶稣基督昨天、今天、一直到永远都是一样的。”
自从2019新冠肺炎发生以来，已经一年多了，这一年是相当“离奇”的一年。从来没有一年的时间让人感觉如此漫长，但又如此快速地过去。在过去的一年里，我听到许多牧者和领袖试图理解这疫情，并分享此疫情如何影响他们的事工。几周前，燕杰传道也分享说，我们不仅对这疫情的应对蛮好的，且靠着神的恩典，我们教会甚至在疫情中也有所增长。
我们感谢弟兄姐妹对所有的变化都能理解和配合，许多人甚至在这个极其困难的时刻站出来服事。
一开始，许多人都觉得，这次因疫情引起的变化只会是短暂的。但我们越来越多的从政治领袖和科学家那里听到，要全面解决疫情的时间，远比我们预期的长许多。有人说3年、5年甚至更久。我想这是时候再次调整我们的心态了。
除了应对局势与适应环境，我们更需要回应这个世代。我吁请大家不要再期待生活何时能回到“正常”，因为现在的状况就是我们的现实。我们不能被这场疫情分心，把福音搁置一边。更不能等到疫情尘埃落定、完全消除，或者警报解除。福音的急迫呼召仍然是相关、不变的。
让我们成为这个世界的盐与光，并在我们所做的一切事上，把这个世界指向耶稣。希伯来书告诉我们，耶稣基督昨天、今天、一直到永远都是一样的! 福音的信息比以往任何时候都更加切实，因为一个“不断变化的世界”迫切需要的是一位“永不改变的神”。
让我们不再关注曾经的事情，而是期待神在这个旅程中带领我们走向何方。阿门。