God's Sanctifying Work through COVID-19?

Almost every country in the world has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and Christians that know God's sovereignty are not surprised. After all, nations and even empires were wiped out by the Almighty God in the Old Testament and in more recent parts of World history. God is always working in multi-faceted ways and it is good for us to reflect on what God is using this pandemic for.

1. Salvation - Billions of people are sitting at home and the brevity of life is becoming ever apparent. The struggling souls in ICU gasping for air without friends and family around them remind us all that when we all die, we leave everyone else behind and we can't bring anyone with us. So many people are open to the Gospel like never before. 
2. "Barriers of Entry" to Church collapse - With every church forced to go online and livestreaming services, the walls of the church have collapsed. Any curious soul, made curious of course by the Almighty, can easily click on a livestream link sent to them by a believing friend, family member or posted on social media or Whatsapp. Already we've heard of colleagues who were sent the livestream links and clicked into the service out of sheer boredom. Some churches that have had livestreams privately available are now opening them up to the public. Even nosy neighbours who would never walk into the church can now login and see what has been going on next door all these years. 
3. Impact of Church Livestreams - With Church being spread into every believer's household, there could be people who are reached by hearing someone's Church service emanating from the walls of their house. Livestreams have forced families that are not used to singing together, to worship over the coffee table with the rest of their church. God is bringing back family worship whether families are ready for it or not. Christians can no longer compartmentalise their life with Church in one corner and their home in another. People joining in on Zoom, Skype or Teams may no longer be able to hide their home life! 
4.  Sunday school - the pandemic has also caused many Sunday Schools to be discontinued. This has forced fathers to teach their children Sunday School. This is obviously a great side effect of the pandemic as the primary units within the church are families. When you have strong families, you have a strong church as a result. Children are also now worshiping together with their parents, which may not have been the case in their churches with the continuing emergence of children's church. 
5. Discipline - Anyone with young children in church know the difficulty of controlling children in church with the constant gaze of ignorant non-parents and the self-righteous parents who clearly scored an easier lot in life than you. Now when you have church at home, it is the perfect opportunity to round off some rough edges in your children's character without the pressure of others. On the other side of the pandemic, going to church may even be a joy! 
6. Church-hopping - We always used to laugh at the arm chair Christian sitting at home channel surfing TBN or Christian channels. With every church in a pandemic having to go online, it is open season for the church hopper. This can be a good thing when someone is stuck in a church that lost its way. God perhaps could use this to move some onto still waters, from churches where the pastors have scattered the sheep (Jeremiah 23:1). Run, little lamb, to higher ground! 
7. Can't use licensed worship music - Some churches have hit a snag going online because they were using contemporary Christian music like Hillsong which is owned by record companies and individuals. Of course, God never intended the Church to become a marketplace (Matthew 21:13), but now some churches can't worship because they don't have the rights to livestream the worship music. This could force some to go back to hymns but most would rather cancel the worship part and skip to the sermon. Which brings us to the final gamechanger instituted by the pandemic by God...
8. More Focus on The Word - When you have mood music , comfy seats, lights, camera, and onstage action, you can get away with a sloppy message. However, now with social distancing, and limited use of licensed worship music, the pandemic has revealed to some that their church hasn't been feeding them! Now the 10 minute exhortation doesn't seem to cut it and God's people are seeking for sincere milk which is the word of God. The preachers that labour in the word and in doctrine (1 Timothy 5:17) are going to draw God's sheep because "my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me" (John 10:27). When the lockdown is over, some churches will disappear and rightly so. While others will join a true gathering of the sheep, leaving the goats. 
9. Tithing when no one's looking - Well with electronic banking someone is looking but without a physical gathering of God's people, the true conviction in the hearts of believers is rightly revealed. Only the serious will continue with tithing. And this means many false churches won't survive. And once again, you can see how God continues to work through this pandemic, as with all things, for His Glory.