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The Sanctity of Life


              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.

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