Before I formed you in the womb I knew you... -Jeremiah 1:5
We live in a strange new world, filled with mind-boggling contradictions that many willingly buy as truth as long as it fits with our society’s ever-evolving lifestyle changes. Tired of your marriage? Try a new partner and claim God's blessing on your choice, then demand that no one judge you because Jesus said “judge not or you will be judged.” Pulled into the denigrating spiral of homosexual transgression? Pronounce yourself free from 2,000 years of homophobic biblical propaganda and embrace your new lifestyle. Tired of paying taxes to a corrupt government? Keep the money for yourself and talk about the radical Jesus who spoke out against the evils of government intervention. Have an unwanted pregnancy? Stop off at your local Planned Parenthood office and rid yourself of the nuisance, pay a few dollars and find a new lease on life.
We love the word "freedom" in America. God himself must check his agenda at the door to our liberty. Surely he would not impinge upon our most basic human rights, and the old-fashioned and archaic Bible must bow to our intellectual superiority and libertine mindset. Yet the contradictions remain, whether we want them to or not. A human embryo is a baby if we want it, with the weight of the law protecting it against molestation. But should one decide that the embryo is unwanted, it is no longer human but now merely tissue, no different than one’s appendix, or worse, a cancerous growth.
I always hesitate before I write an article like this because some of you reading it have committed adultery. Some struggle with same-sex attraction. More than a few cheat on your taxes, and some have gone through the painful (mentally, physically, and spiritually) process of one or more abortions. Everyone, whether reader or writer, has skeletons in their closet that they want no one to know about. What hypocrites we are all capable of being! What strangers we are to the holiness of God! Sexually pure or pornographically addicted. Opposite-sex or same-sex attracted. Monogamous or multi-partnered, married or divorced, male or female. What we all need desperately, every one of us, is a Savior.
Sunday, January 20, marks "Sanctity of Human Life Sunday." Spouting off statistics does not do justice to the wanton, legal, and government sanctioned death toll since the landmark Roe v. Wade decision in 1973. Human minds cannot grasp the numbers, so we are more outraged at the deaths of 3,000 plus adults during the horrific events of 911 than we are at the countless millions who have gone to their graves in America—directly from their mother's wombs. We do not spend all of our time here at LifePoint talking about abortion (or about adultery, homosexuality, or any other particular sin), but we do believe in the sanctity of human life from the cradle to the grave. Our culture has thoroughly bought into the concept of abortion on demand, but it is only recently that the movers and shakers in our society have begun to speak openly of euthanasia (the destruction of the old or infirm by direct action). What was once called “impossible” to take place in our society is now perfectly acceptable (even demanded). It is only a matter of time before the lives of the elderly will be just as expendable as are the lives of the unborn in America. This is already true in many “enlightened” nations of the world. America is always merely a generation away from jumping on the bandwagon and taking new concepts further down the field. Remember when “socialism” was a repugnant word in America? Just wait and see how often you hear it touted as a grand new idea in the upcoming elections.
God is a loving and forgiving God. There is forgiveness and mercy for repentant adulterers, perjurers, liars, cheats, homosexuals, heterosexuals, abortion seekers and providers. Jesus' death on the cross saves sinners, not merely by example, but in direct, significant, and life-altering ways. If you have fled to Jesus as your only hope and called on him for mercy, laying your life before him—you may live at peace. Keep in mind, Jesus did not come into the world to condemn the world, but to save it. “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God” (John 3:17-18). It is not our goal at LifePoint to condemn, but to point people to the only one who can save. Nevertheless, the truth must be told.
My prayer is that we, the believers who make up LifePoint Church, will neither condemn those who have committed sin and have turned to Jesus for salvation, nor turn a blind eye to the impact sin has upon our individual and collective lives. The truth is hard to swallow sometimes, but it is so much better than the reality that awaits us on the other side of indifference.
Grace and peace,
Pastor Jym