Sanctity
of Life Sunday rolls around every third Sunday in January. It is celebrated
near the date of the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision date. This sometimes makes Sanctity of Life seem to
be only about abortion and making laws against its legal practice. Sanctity of Life is so much more than changing
one law. It is about drawing attention
to the reality that life is God’s gift.
God highly values life. It is not
a political debate; it is a recognition of the work of our Creator God. He breathed life into His creation. Seeing life (all lives) as sacred stems from
a love of God.
Death is our problem. God never wanted death to be a part of His
creation. God warned Adam and Eve about death. We have death because we have been deceived
by satan. Once death entered our lives,
it left us powerless to do anything about it.
God never wanted death in our lives, and He is still intent on helping
us escape death’s grip. Jesus told us
that He came to bring life and to bring life that is abundant. In contrast it is satan who comes to steal,
kill and destroy. The thief comes only to
steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
John 10:10.
Jesus
tells us that He is the way, the truth, and the LIFE (John 14:6). Jesus is life. We sanctify life when we treasure our lives
the way God treasures our lives. God
does not want any one of us to perish (to die in our flesh before we receive
the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ, His Son). The pursuit of anything that kills, steals or
destroys life is devaluing what God has given.
I was
challenged as a minister that if our churches found a compassionate, loving way
to minister to men and women who are considering abortion that we could
potentially cut abortion statistics in half.
Surveys report that half of women who abort their child have been to
church at least monthly. Life is
sanctified when we realize that we are in need of a Savior. An unwanted pregnancy is a life wanted by
God. Why does He allow a pregnancy in a
person who does not want a baby, but allow others to struggle with
infertility? Perhaps these two women by
longing for life could be matched in a
way that would transform their lives and help them see the wonder of God’s
goodness.
God’s
example for the church is to pursue life.
Every instruction that God give us is about how to live our lives
fully. Sanctity of life is a daily, moment
by moment, call from God. We all know
that abortion kills, steals and destroys a life that God created. What else kills, steals and destroys
life? Abuse of any kind—toward the
elderly and the poor, and even the sexually exploited are subjects of sanctity
of life discussions.
It gets personal too. I have been convicted of the ways I destroy
life when I am unwilling to forgive a fellow image-bearer of God. The life I most destroy is my own by hanging
onto bitterness that keeps me obsessed with my enemies’ failures and taking no
time to think of my own. My lack of
honor of life through hating another person prevents me from connecting deeply
to God’s love for me.
Christianity is about honoring life
and recognizing that God alone can create life and that God alone can recreate
the life that has succumbed to death through sin. I want to sanctify life in my pro-life voting
but beyond that in my daily forgiveness and in my treatment of the poor and
oppressed. I want to honor God by
honoring His creation of life. I don’t
want to allow the devil to lead me to kill, steal and destroy life and destroy
myself at the same time.
Copyright © 2018. Deborah R Newman teatimeforyoursoul.com All Rights Reserved.
Comments
Post a Comment