Of Such is the Kingdom of God

The statistics are staggering.  Between 1970 and 2014, 44.5 million legal abortions occurred in the United States.  That’s an average of nearly 3000 children per day who have died at someone else’s hand – 7½ times the number of Jews murdered in the holocaust.  Nearly 25% of all women will have an abortion by the age of 45. 

Social media posts tell me that I am supposed to care about building a border wall, the effects of a government shutdown, and a host of other politically-charged topics.  Commercials on TV tell me I’m supposed to care about the whiteness of my teeth, what kind of car I drive, and where I should spend my next vacation.  Financial advisors tell me I’m supposed to care about the size of my retirement account and who should get my assets if I die before I use them all up.  But few seem to care anymore about a 1973 Supreme Court decision that has cut short the lives of so many innocent children and forever changed countless more (these babies’ mothers and their extended families).

Yesterday was Sanctity of Human Life Sunday, an annual day of remembrance of the Roe v. Wade decision that is honored by most churches each January.  If only we all thought about the effect of this ruling more than one day a year.  Shame on us all – myself included.

I know this has always been a hot political issue.  But God has never considered the matter open for debate.  The Bible makes it clear that ALL life is formed in the image of God and that he personally knows each life he creates (Genesis 1:26 and Psalm 139:13-16).  Jesus was very clear that children were important for his kingdom (Matthew 19:14) and were actually the model for the kind of people who could gain entrance (Matthew 18:3).

The 20^th and 21^st century American culture that I have lived in has not been kind to God’s truths.  We are too independent and self-centered and always seem to care more about our own comfort than some of the things that God cares about – orphans, widows, the downtrodden, the poor, etc.  We have lost sight of the words of Jesus’ brother, James: “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world” (James 1:27).  And so we have become untouched and apathetic about the topic of abortion.

The bottom line is this: regardless of any man-made exceptions that make us think abortion in some cases is okay, it is never sanctioned by God and is an abomination to him – just as any taking of innocent life is.  God’s sovereignty provides that ONLY HE has the right to give and take life.  Every other conclusion we come to is a concoction of our sin-depraved minds and our selfishness.  Period.

Every child killed by abortion has lost the opportunity for which they were created – the privilege of knowing God and loving him.  As someone who was given that opportunity by my parents, I don’t want to forget to pray for the 3000 (or more) women who are contemplating abortion today.  And then tomorrow for the next 3000, and so on.  And to pray for and give grace to those who made the decision for abortion in the past.  I don’t have a lot of other power to effect change in this world, but I have heaven on my side.  May I never forget that each life matters and is dearly loved by God.  And may I never take for granted the gift of life.

New Math for a New Year

 

Near the end of 2018, my favorite author left this earth for his heavenly home just shy of his 86^th birthday.  Eugene Peterson’s writings have walked alongside God’s Word in my life for many years, helping me to better understand how to navigate my life of faith.  He was a humble man who was trained theologically but never lost sight of the importance of practical Christianity lived out in community with other believers. 

As we begin a New Year, I want to elaborate on some of Peterson’s wisdom from an unlikely source – a poem he published in 2013 entitled The New Math.  Poems were not his usual mode of writing, but this one stands out as I look forward to a new year of living the kingdom life here on earth.  It is based on Psalm 90:12: “Teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom.”  At the beginning of a new year, we all need wisdom and a proper perspective on how to number our days.

Construct a calendar of grace,

Genesis days and moon-marked months.

Make a Christian year: add

Blessings, subtract sins, divide

Sorrow, multiply love –

An arithmetic to confound the devil.

I am not sure whether Peterson meant this poem as a request to God or as a call to action for each of us, but either way is appropriate.  We need to seek to build grace into our year’s calendar, but we cannot accomplish this without the grace of God and his work in our lives.  Imagine what your year could be like if every day on the 2019 calendar was bathed first and foremost in grace – God’s grace for you as well as your grace for yourself and those you come in contact with.

It is also a joint effort between God and us to create a “Christian year”.  As God brings blessings into our lives, it is our responsibility to recognize them and give him glory.  Sounds easy, but I know from experience that not all of God’s blessings always match our definition of “blessing” – this is where faith comes in and replaces our natural responses.  Secondly, as God forgives (“subtracts”) our sins on a daily basis, we have the responsibility of forgiving those around us whose sins we would rather hold them accountable for.

Third, God often uses those closest to us to divide sorrow in our lives, and we are responsible to join him in doing this in the lives of others we come in contact with.  Sorrow can be overwhelming all by yourself, but it becomes a shared burden when we hold each other up with our tears and with truth from God’s Word in difficult situations.  Lastly, God’s love is never-ending and always being poured out on his children.  It is our job to spread that love to everyone we meet with actions that model our heavenly Father’s unconditional love. 

The longer I walk with God, the more determined I am to look for ways to “confound the devil”.  His days are truly numbered – because the victory has already been won by Christ’s death and resurrection.  But God continues to allow Satan to have his way for a while longer in this world, and I want to do everything I can to thwart his purposes.  Let’s resolve to make 2019 a Christian year that is full of grace – blessing others and glorifying God for his blessings, forgiving others, lifting the burden of sorrow in another’s life, and loving freely as God has loved us.  This is the kind of new math I can get excited about.