My Friends, I offer the following words as a reminder of what you already know: the presence and power of Jesus in your life has more impact than COVID-19 upon your life. The impact of Jesus in your life is greater than the impact of COVID-19 upon your life. This is true of both the big things of life and the small things of life.

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (Col. 3:1-4, NIV 2011)

If your life has been hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3), what can COVID-19 due to you in an ultimate sense? Oh, COVID-19 can disrupt life; it can bring misery, suffering, and death to bodies. Indeed, it has and will bring misery to particular people in a way that my emotions cannot bear. And it will probably bring suffering and death around the globe in a way that nearly overwhelms me. I am hidden with Christ in God. I am weak; he is strong. In my weakness, his power is on display. I am finite; he is unlimited. In my finitude, his greatness is on display. COVID-19 cannot separate me or you from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. COVID-19 does not have the power to hinder the Spirit from continually pouring the love of God into my heart and into your heart. Because we are hidden with Christ in God, you and I can continue to do the small, weak, and limited acts of loving service during this season of the COVID-19 pandemic. Jesus is great, strong and powerful.

When Jesus comes back in glory, that is, when his power, beauty, holiness, magnificence and splendor are on full display for the whole world to see, you and I will be present with him and will be revealed in a splendor derived from his splendor (Col 3:4). A glorious body is in your future; it will be imperishable, incorruptible and no longer subject to sin, illness, suffering or death. COVID-19 cannot hinder in any way the future of Christ’s glory-manifest-in-you at his coming. The shadow of COVID-19 in this age will disappear in the dazzling glory of Jesus’s second coming. So, in our mundane and often unseen acts of loving service during this season of COVID-19 pandemic, we anticipate his spectacular manifestation of full glory and our participation with him in this revelation.<