As Americans, we’re terrible at submission. We just don’t like to be told what to do. Someone posted on NextDoor that there was a hue and cry about CostCo requiring face masks (which authorities from the President on down are calling for). “I’ll cancel my membership!” “I sure hope they have them available at the door!” And on and on. It goes with the outrage I’ve written about before.

My daughter lives and works in Dalian, China. Having been through the quarantine phase, she has to carry her phone with her wherever she goes – the phone has a tracking app which shows that she’s been in country the whole time and is not bringing the disease in from somewhere else. (And of course, she has no choice about wearing a mask EVERYWHERE.) When she posted something about the tracking app on Facebook, one of her friends went on and on about not wanting to be tracked. And, “I will not give up my rights!”

That’s an American for you. No matter that if Melody isn’t tracked, she doesn’t get to go anywhere. My rights take precedence. (Of course, in some places you don’t have any rights to start with, but that’s another story.)

By contrast, Jesus offers us the opportunity to give up our rights.

But we did not use this right…But I have not used any of these rights. (1 Corinthians 9.12…15, NIV)

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Ephesians 5.21, NIV)

P.S. I, like many people, am concerned about three things:

• The coronavirus itself
• The economy
• Potential government overreach

But, like everyone else, I don’t know the whole story about any of these things, especially the first two. I may have an opinion, but my opinion shouldn’t overrule common sense submission to reasonable requests like social distancing and wearing a mask in public to protect the other person.

In humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. (Philippians 2.3, 4, NIV)