“Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the skies rain down righteousness.” ~ Isaiah 45:8
Paul writes a letter to the Ephesians that gives them instructions for Christian living. Chapter 5 has a lot of content on what that looks like and examples of how to behave. In truth, we all have fallen short in following these instructions many times. We especially seem to come short on our Christian attitude when we are confronted with tough topics like abortion.
When it comes to talking about abortion, are we loving in truth?
Usually, our first reaction to someone that disagrees with us isn’t to love in truth. To be honest, we often react in anger and are quick to want to argue with them. This can easily lead to fighting, belittling, or disrespecting the other person.
Paul warns us of this. He said that in this world, we would face people that are “darkened in their understanding and seperate from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.” (Ephesians 4:18-19)
How Do We Stand Up To Abortion In Love?
Paul writes to the Ephesians, and to us, that we must “Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” (Ephesians 5:1-2)
There are about 2.3 billion Christians in our world, and Christians make up 78% of the U.S. population alone. If we all chose to love in truth like Christ has for us and practiced it in our everyday lives, we most definitely wouldn’t be where we are today.
The love that the Bible talks about is not that of how the world says to love. Loving someone does not mean we permit all kinds of wrong.
It’s love that corrects, brings deep conviction, and moves a person from the very core of their being that turns someone from where they were going and brings about real transformation by God.
Although we outnumber the non-Christians, too many of us have chosen to stay quiet and stand on the sidelines so that we do not offend anyone. We have fallen into the lie that says that love means keeping our God to ourselves and living the Christian faith without ever really being the light. Our problems in this nation don’t exist because of who is in office. They exist because His people have stayed quiet for too long and we have allowed the world to tell us how to behave rather than how the Bible says we should.
I encourage each of you during these 40 Days for Life to practice clothing yourselves in love. Show love to the most difficult of people to love. We must realize that if we want to see radical change in our community, in our state, and in our nation, we must love radically, we must love boldly, and we must love in truth.
Devotional for Day 6
Intention: That knowing the shortness of life, all may value it more deeply.
Scripture: “Thou shalt not kill.” ~ Exodus 20:13
Reflection: God is very clear, though the word translated kill, actually means “murder.” Abortion is the premeditated murder of the most innocent, most vulnerable, most defenseless, most helpless, most dependent human being. How can we have let this go on, legal in our USA, for the past 48 years? Let’s face it, many of us have become complacent, have ignored it, have fallen asleep in the midst of the battle over life and death itself. First, we believe the subtle little lie that we don’t have to believe what the scripture says, it’s not really God’s Word, it’s not relevant today, the Church is man-made, we certainly don’t need to listen to her teachings. And now that we’ve finally woken up, we are covered in the blood of 56+ million innocent children, murdered because they were “inconvenient.” Do we fear God at all?
Prayer: Heavenly Father, we fall to our knees in repentance, in repentance for the apathy with which we’ve lived our lives for so many years, ignoring the cries for justice from our younger brothers and sisters. Now Lord, forgive us, and cleanse us, and raise us up to stand firm in holiness and truth, to be a light, a witness to your love and forgiveness to the “Planned Parenthood” and “Women’s Reproductive” abortionist, clinic workers, and the moms contemplating abortion there, and any other passers by. That they may see your love and mercy and forgiveness, and may turn from choosing death to choosing life. We pray this through Christ our Lord, Amen.
