In Luke chapter 6, Jesus commands us to love our enemies and to be merciful, just as our Father is merciful, and we recall from Romans chapter 5, “Christ died for the ungodly” and “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us”.
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As we contemplate topics like the Sanctity of human life, unplanned pregnancy and abortion, we must begin by confessing our sin of failing to love and care for those personally impacted and our failure to be merciful with them. With controversial topics such as this, we too often make bold statements and point fingers that promote our own self-righteousness and condemn the sinner without considering the reality of the isolation, fear, anxiety, and shame experienced by those actually dealing with the matter personally.
Each year in the United States there are over three million unplanned pregnancies (1) and over 1.2 million abortions (2). Nearly one half of all women in the U.S. will experience an unplanned pregnancy (2) and one third will have an abortion by the time they reach their 45th birthday (2). 65% of the women having abortions are professing Christians. These startling statistics should remind us that in nearly any circumstance or setting, we are likely to be in the presence of someone who has in the past or is currently dealing with this issue personally. As a result, our response must be one that offers, love, mercy and care to those personally impacted as well as the honesty and boldness to expose the damaging effects of sexual sin and abortion in the hopes of pressing back the effects of the fall.
We must be clear that abortion is a sin against God’s will and its damaging effects extend far beyond the destruction of the infant in the womb. We must fight to bring an end to abortion, but as we do so, we must consider that God’s grace extends to all involved. We must join with Jesus in upholding the cause of the poor and oppressed, rescuing the weak and needy and delivering them from the hand of the wicked (Ps 82; 3-4). This care should extend to the women and others personally impacted by unplanned pregnancy and abortion. And we must do these things humbly, recalling that Jesus’ death was sufficient to cover all sin while recognizing our own personal need for forgiveness.
How then are we to engage? We must begin by honestly facing reality. Practically all adults have personally struggled with sexual sin at some level. Sexual sin has been an issue in every culture throughout all of recorded history and we are not likely to eradicate it in ours. Additionally, the reality of abortion and its effects are awful and we must strive to expose the lies offered by it and educate our children with more than simply saying, “it’s wrong”. Changing the abortion laws might make it more difficult to obtain an abortion, but this alone will not deal with the real problem.
Therefore, we should begin by changing our message about this topic. Whenever we speak of this topic, we must do so as if we are speaking directly to someone who is dealing with an unplanned pregnancy or past abortion, recognizing our own need for forgiveness and offer the mercy of Jesus. Secondly, we should not be so shocked when sexual sin and its effects show up in our lives or the lives of our children and friends. In fact, we should prepare for it.
Many of those impacted by unplanned pregnancy find themselves alienated and full of fear, anxiety and shame. They too often don’t know where to turn and the anonymity and quick fix offered by the abortion clinic can be overwhelmingly attractive and blind them to its resulting effects. We must honestly ask ourselves if our children and friends feel safer coming to us for assistance or to the abortion clinic where they can make it all disappear? We must be in regular conversation with our children and friends and strive to create an environment that offers the grace and forgiveness available in Jesus regardless of the circumstances.
Recognizing that many will not, or simply don’t know how to do this, we should familiarize ourselves with the local Christian Crisis pregnancy care centers within our community. These care centers are miraculously redeeming the lives of women and infants in the womb every day. They offer anonymity to those in crisis, but do so with sound, life affirming, biblical counsel. Sadly, these care centers are often under resourced and too often unknown. We should promote and support these care centers so our children, friends and others in the community are aware of them and see them as a viable option if they find themselves in the midst of such a crisis.
So I plead with you to find your voice, for your children, for your friends and for your community. To discuss sexual sin and its effects, to expose the lies abortion offers and to offer the mercy available in Jesus
I also plead with you to promote and support the Christian crisis pregnancy care centers in your community who are lovingly entering the lives of those impacted.
Too often when supporting organizations like these care centers, we simply place a check in the offering basket when asked and forget about the cause until it comes up again next year. The fact of the matter is that it’s difficult and expensive for the care centers to regularly visit churches or for churches to fit another appeal in their agenda on a regular basis. As a result, the care centers struggle to obtain adequate ongoing financial support.
Redeemlife was established to help address this issue. Redeemlife is a non-profit organization that exists to mobilize support and advocacy for Christian pregnancy care centers across the country. Redeemlife provides care centers with long-term sustainable support by enabling individuals to become Redeemlife members and commit to pay membership fees of $1 per week to benefit local care centers. The idea is for many small contributions to add up into substantial ongoing support.
