- 2016 (9)
- July (1)
- May (2)
- March (3)
- February (1)
- January (2)
- 2015 (2)
- December (2)
Blog Archive
January 18, 2016
The Value of A Human Life
As many of you are aware, Sunday, January 17th was Sanctity of Life Sunday. This day has been set aside largely to affirm the importance of life even in the womb. On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court made it legal to kill unborn babies and as a consequence called into question what it meant to be a human being.
Since that time many have taken up the mantle to stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves. Over the years, this had become known as the pro-life movement. I raise this issue not because I want to start a debate over when life begins or even to denounce those who do not agree with me. I know where I stand and am convinced that God’s Word is clear about all those whom He has created. The real question I want to raise it to what extent are we truly pro-life? As many of you are aware, my wife and I just found out that the baby, whose heartbeat we had just seen beating two weeks ago, was no longer alive. This is the fifth time that we have walked this road in 20 years. The last time was over 12 years ago and we have grown in numerous ways since that time. We now have five wonderful children and if this pregnancy would have continued, we would have six. We value life!
It is this present experience that has once again caused me to reflect on this subject in a deeply personal way. Being pro-life is about much more than merely standing against abortion. It is valuing all life from conception to the grave. It is recognizing God’s sovereign purpose of imaging forth His majesty in every single human life. Sure, sin has marred and distorted the image of God in us, but it yet remains! God still opens and closes the womb. God still stands by the original cultural commission to be fruitful and multiply. God still upholds His Word to Moses that it is He who makes the “mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind” (Ex. 4:11). God continues to magnify Himself in every life. Yet, how many of us are guilty of condemning those who are “pro-choice” in one breathe and in the next finding ourselves disgusted with those who keep having kids without the means to pay for them or feel inconvenienced that our parents require a little more time than we’d like. I’ve found myself standing in need of repentance. I don’t mean for this to be understood from a political point of view. I know we have issues about society’s ability to cope with everything that’s being thrown at us. We have a difficult task before us to figure out how to respond on a national level. In end, however, I fear that the disintegration of the value of human life goes far beyond this issue of abortion. In fact, the abortion factor might even be the very thing to distract us long enough to unravel the very fabric of the thing we are trying to uphold.
Every life is valuable! The baby in the womb. The mentally or physically challenged child or adult who makes us feel awkward. The children of the parents who “probably shouldn’t have had kids in the first place,” and the “irresponsible” parents themselves. The aged man or women who can no longer control their own bodily functions and require around the clock care. All of them! It seems as though that notorious quote from Charles Dickens classic “A Christmas Carol” has become more than merely a few lines in a story:
"At this festive season of the year, Mr Scrooge, ... it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the Poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time. Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir."
"Are there no prisons?"
"Plenty of prisons..."
"And the Union workhouses." demanded Scrooge. "Are they still in operation?"
"Both very busy, sir..."
"Those who are badly off must go there."
"Many can't go there; and many would rather die."
"If they would rather die," said Scrooge, "they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.”
The next time we find ourselves confronted with the issue of an unwanted pregnancy (even the ones who “should have known better”), poverty, incompetence, or the inconvenience of the elderly; we might want to stop and think about that phrase, “PRO-LIFE.”
God is imaging forth His glory and grace all around us and we don’t even recognize it, even worse, we’re disgusted by it.
In the words of the apostle Paul, “think on these things . . .”