Dear church,

I read today where a professional football player was asked his feelings about COVID-19. The player was unconcerned. He said, “If I die, I die.” That will catch a person’s attention. The player was unafraid of dying.

Of course, the player who offered up that quote is a Christian. And so it’s not so surprising after all. Christians say stuff like that.

“For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” The apostle Paul said that. It was kind of like he was saying, “If I die, I die.” No big deal. Heaven is better.

But for now, of course, we’re here. Christians also know that this life we’ve been given is a gift. And with this gift, we live as we are designed to live. We please God, and we try to persuade people to be reconciled to God. This is a core part of Paul’s message in 2 Corinthians 5.

Paul called it living with “good courage.”

This kind of living requires faith. Paul said we walk by faith, not by sight. This kind of living also requires we look deeper – past the mere flesh of human existence – into the eternal realities that are unseen.

In this turbulent world, are you living with “good courage”?

Chris