Reimagining Pro-Life: 30 Days With Save the Storksنموونە

HEART //

How many things around us daily scream, “Buy me! I will make your life better! Indulge in me! I will make you happy!" Hearing this message over and over makes it hard to resist. But today’s verse reminds us that lust for more and the pride of life are real enemies to our souls. Things that we use, need, and enjoy are not a problem in and of themselves, of course. Problems arise with how we may be tempted to hold onto these things instead of to God, and how we allow them to shape us. Author and church planter Jeff Christopherson wisely said, “Jesus is against whatever we will not leave behind to follow Him.”

As we continue practicing Letting Go, let’s consider how distracted with material possessions we can easily become and how it impacts the things that matter most in our lives. We are trained by marketing geniuses to develop an appetite for more, especially with the way things can even be individualized to our personal preferences. From what we eat to how we consume media, we are becoming really good at curating our own perfectly customized life experience. We are up to our eyeballs in this way of thinking, and usually, we don’t even realize how it could be impacting our church communities, our family time, our donations, our volunteer hours, our personalities — and even our understanding of God.

Our value may be on making our future, ourselves, our homes, our vacations, and our kids as comfortable and secure as humanly possible. Or we may grow to have such a high value on being the hands and feet of Jesus to bring the Kingdom of God to the earth that being pleasantly secure just isn’t our highest priority. 

We encourage you to prayerfully consider where you place your value. As you think of the sixty million children who have lost their lives to abortion, legally, in the United States since 1973, do you get uncomfortable? Would you ever consider sacrificially giving your time and money toward families who may be vulnerable to choosing abortion over life for their babies by supporting a pregnancy resource center in your area? 

Sometimes the discomfort of the reality of abortion can cause us to react in one of two ways: fight or flight. Fighting in a way that’s reactive, judgmental, or unloving is sort of like fighting fire with fire. This way of thinking has done some significant damage in our world, but so has another reaction: flight. Passivity, freezing, or running away from the battle usually comes from thinking, This is a huge, complicated problem. What difference can I actually make? In that response, we choose not to enter into the redemptive story, potentially getting sucked into the stream of self-focus and wasting much of our God-given resources on our own very small story. 

Instead, may we learn to react to the tragedy of abortion — to all vulnerability and heartbreak! — in a way that aligns with Jesus. It is possible! Christlike brokenness leads to active compassion. As today’s verse reminds us, love and passion for the things of the world and the things of the Kingdom don’t easily coexist. On one hand, we can complicate it, saying “There’s nothing wrong with wanting ____!” Truly, there are no Christian rules against any of our stuff, but with our very best interest in mind, Jesus wants our whole hearts and energy pointed toward Him. We should want to be willing to lay anything down to follow Him. And as we learn to hear His voice and respond, compelled by the Holy Spirit, we have access to compassion so strong that it breaks the chains of needing more and more to fulfill ourselves. Then, it leads us to pour more and more into the Kingdom of God, our Father. Our internal reactions and external actions will align with His, and the sheer joy of serving others will begin to fuel us, regardless of how much that true compassion costs.

If our possessions and our current level of comfort are satisfying us, making us feel ‘happy enough’ to ignore the needs around us, then they are an immense threat to our souls. And our good Father cares so deeply about our souls. 

// WORK

Giving up tangible things that we love and enjoy — even if only for a short time, even when we know good things will come out of it — is a major battle. You’re probably feeling the weight of that statement right now, especially after giving up your favorite drinks (and maybe even food) for just one day. We hope that today’s passage refreshes you, though. When we give up good gifts from God, like coffee or dinner, we are reminding ourselves that Christ is the Gift. Doing His will is more satisfying than anything the world has to offer. 

Let this truth of today’s verse sink into you: doing the will of God leads to eternal life. What an invitation! It’s mysterious and impossible to quantify, but it is simple. Living like God (following His example) means living like God — eternal reality seeps into your limited perspective, and eternal life is yours. Today is about living outside of your comfort zone. God has a bit of a reputation of pushing us out of our comfort zones to grow us and invite us to be like Him. Pray about how you may be able to give your time, talent, or treasure to a local pregnancy resource center, even if that’s outside of your comfort zone. We all have certain spiritual gifts and limitations and we should never feel pressure that comes from anywhere but the Holy Spirit. How might He be challenging you today? Journal about the ideas that come from your prayer time. What could your life look like if you surrendered to God’s direction fearlessly and selflessly?