Pro NO Choice

08/21/2015

Any talk about Planned Parenthood or abortions makes me very uneasy.

I hear the words or the gruesome language people use to describe it and I wince. I cringe away.

It stirs such strong emotions in me. It makes me want to crawl in a hole.

That happened to my baby.

My husband responded to these feelings with “I’m sorry that happened to our baby, but our baby was already with Jesus on that Thursday morning and we will know why when we meet her.”

Our baby didn’t have a heart beat. Our baby was not alive.

I would have done anything to change God’s plan, to hear a heartbeat that day. But it was not my choice.

God loves us so much. He gave us the power to choose from the very beginning in the Garden of Eden; knowing Eve would eat the apple, knowing we would not choose Him. Despite His love for us and desire to be with us, He let us choose.

And we have been choosing wrong ever since.

We choose knowledge. We choose power and pride.  We choose money. We choose murder.

We look around at the death and destruction in the world with our mouths agape and aghast at what surrounds us…Why the hell that surprises us is a mystery to me.

Our very core is evil. We provide for the poor and look around to see who is looking. We decorate our houses to hear how great we are. We lie without hesitation to make ourselves look or feel better. We would “follow our hearts” into a burning pit of fire if it promised to make us happy…. Which is exactly what we are doing.  

The only thing that redeems us is Jesus. The death of a perfect man for our sin and His resurrection.

We do not see the extent of our sin, of our inherent evilness. We justify our actions until we are blue in the face: “It’s just a little white lie”

“I’m not as bad as her.”

“I’m a pretty good person.”

"It isn't a life."

“It’s not like I’m a murderer.”

Until given a choice.

In Galatians Paul is letting the churches of Galatia have it for mixing up the gospel. The people of Galatia are tying to earn their salvation by keeping the law. Paul argues that the Lord made a covenant with Abraham far before he gave the law to Moses and that covenant is not annulled by the introduction of the Mosaic Law. 

The covenant promised the coming of Jesus to pardon sin. Then what use is the law? It serves as a demonstration of our inadequacy. If salvation is through the law, we would have to keep every single piece of the law in order to receive it.  It demonstrates our substantial inability to keep the law and our utter need for Jesus.

If you recognize this as the gospel, it is imperative that you do not stay silent.

Many people have not witnessed the truth of the gospel. They are blind to it. The thought that they are a good person is enough. We know it is not. I realize that is offensive. The gospel is offensive. But to fully believe in the gospel of Christ and not tell others is unloving. Accepting people and their beliefs without telling them the truth is callous. That is not what Jesus did. Yes, He loved sinners. Yes, He everyone is welcome at His table. But He obviously offended a few. He was crucified for it.

We are called to go to the ends of the earth preaching His truth. It is not up to us whether or not people receive the gospel, but it should not be for lack of hearing it. As bearers of the truth, it is our responsibility to share it; to shine a light in the darkness and expose the depravity of this world. To point towards an eternal light.

Given a choice, we will always choose wrong. We will choose this world and our momentary needs every time.

We are what is wrong in this world.

Given a choice, we silence a beating heart and justify it by saying it is not a life, or that ours is more important.

So, don’t give us a choice. Don’t let us choose.

Graphic by Anna Merrell Photography and Design