Reimagining Pro-Life: 30 Days With Save the Storksنمونه

HEART //   

There are so many ways to ‘handle’ the sin and shame that we collect along this journey on earth. We may try to overcome our shortcomings through self-importance and pride: we hide internal sins and shame behind external good deeds. When we live this way, we are quick to judge others, becoming angry and unapproachable. Some of us respond to our own and others’ misdeeds with passivity: we dismiss them, acting like it’s not a big deal to walk opposed to the Creator God. Or, in order to protect ourselves from the criticism of others, some of us try the approach of carrying shame around like a shield, refusing to forgive or give grace to ourselves.

In all of these reactions, we are acting as the judge and jury in our own case. Today’s verse reminds us to let God be the Judge, individually blessing us with His glorious grace and corporately with His inevitable will for the cosmos. But often, as Ephesians 3 says, we naïvely deem ourselves — and our actions — as right and just. 

What we need more than arrogance, passivity, or control, is humility. We need to bring our sins, weaknesses, and brokenness to God, so that we may walk in the light of His promises to us: “In Him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us.” It is God’s amazing, unmerited grace that absorbs our shortcomings, overcomes them, and makes us new. 

When we are made new by the blood of Jesus, we join the eternal family of God. We can know that God cares about parent-child relationships because He is infinitely invested in them, both with His Son and with us. We are all, in a sense, orphans of this world. Left to our own devices, we end up isolated and powerless. However, as children who lift our eyes, hands, and heart to God, we are adopted into an everlasting family.

We can care as God does about the sanctity of the parent-child relationship by encouraging abortion-minded parents to make choices that affirm life. We must do more than encourage them, though. Today’s verse ends with Jesus bringing “unity to all things in heaven and on earth.” He doesn’t just talk about unity; Christ enacts unity. 

// WORK

As Christians, we must join God in the family business of establishing unity on earth. Let’s try reaching out to help women struggling with an unplanned pregnancy who feel lonely and afraid! 

Reflect on this story of a young woman named Beth who felt shocked and confused by her pregnancy.

As you think about your adoption as a son or daughter of God, brainstorm ways that you can help to establish solidarity for abortion-vulnerable moms, by being a conduit of grace and love toward them and their unborn child. 

Diane Ferraro, Chief Communications Officer of Save the Storks, describes a few ways that you can help to give women and children a new hope and an action plan: “This doesn’t always mean being a donor. It could mean that you come alongside a pregnancy resource center, become a family that adopts, or use social media to share information with others.” Write down the ideas that you come up with in your journal!