What will 2021 look like because of 2020? Ben’s Response to Stephen

Stephen’s conclusion was spot on: 

“So what will 2021 look like because of 2020? Without God’s help and a conscious effort, we’ll go back to ignoring the health concerns of others, dinner will once again come out of a microwave, people in the same room will again be strangers lurking behind the screens of our phones, and besides a drawer full of unused masks and a closet full of hand sanitizer we are trying to unload on Ebay, it will all probably look exactly the same. Finger-lickin', french-fry snackin' here we come again...That is…unless…we prefer the taste of changing history instead.”

 

While I advocated for human beings allowing God enough space to change us every day, the harsh reality is that after He has changed us, often those changes are made mute when we return to what we were before.  (Yes, I know that was a long sentence. No, I didn’t want to change it. Yes, my wife wanted me to.) 

Character regression occurs when we allow circumstances to passively change us rather than actively working to make ourselves better. Every day ought to be a little pandemic in that the old self gives way to the new self (cf. 1 Cor. 15:31; 2 Cor. 5:17 Col. 3:10). Circumstances—both favorable and unfavorable— give us an opportunity to change. If we do not, in some way, use each opportunity to grow we will find we’ve squandered life’s biggest gift: growth.