“Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” (Romans 13:10 NIV)
For many months, I have been strongly advocating the wearing of masks in public places in order to diminish the impact of the present pandemic. By wearing a mask, I am, like millions of others, trying to keep the number of contagions down so that our hospitals do not get overwhelmed with emergency cases. At the moment, we are in the most dangerous phase of the pandemic, so hopefully, more people will graciously adhere to the wise safety precautions that our best medical people are encouraging us to practice.
Some folks I know question these precautions because they offend their self-dignity and personal liberty. I must admit that I don’t understand this, because freedom always entails community responsibilities for the common good of the whole people. Also, from a biblical point of view, we are commanded by Jesus to love one another, and in today’s highlighted verse, the apostle Paul endorses that by informing the Christian church in Rome that love does no harm to a neighbour and is, indeed, the fulfillment of God’s law. So, because of this, I wear a mask and encourage others to do the same. Taking these precautions benefits people we don’t even know! As a Christian, I see no other way of respecting and fulfilling Christ’s command to love my neighbour.
The good news about wearing masks and following safety precautions is that we have actually diminished flu around the globe. Usually at this time, the flu season deeply impacts our communities, but because more folks have been vaccinated and are following the five core safety precautions, the annual flu is having a tough time of being transmitted. So, the side effect of all our precautions is that flu cases are very low. Isn’t that wonderful?
May God bless you and keep you safe from this pandemic. May you do your part in fulfilling God’s law by keeping the precautions and showing Christ’s love by doing no harm to your neighbours. Wear a mask, please!
Prayer: Lord Jesus, help us to be free from our fears by graciously accepting the God-given wisdom of our health and medical professionals. Keep them safe, too, as they constantly seek to help those who are the worst affected by this pandemic. May our loving actions and compassionate responsibility successfully diminish this contagion. In Your holy name, we pray. Amen.
John Stuart
Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
Reprinted with author permission from PresbyCan
