Reimagining Pro-Life: 30 Days With Save the Storksنمونه

HEART //

Our prayer is that today, as you wrap up 30 Days with Save the Storks, you would be brave enough to open your eyes and to continue asking yourself hard questions: “How can I remain pure in my devotion to God, willing to let go of all that hinders me? How is my identity influenced by the love of God? What people in my life and the world can I serve with compassion? How would my specific mission in life look if I were not so afraid or self-focused?” 

It takes courage to open our eyes. As Karen Swallow Prior, professor at Liberty University points out, "One must be vulnerable to suffering some kind of injury in order to be considered courageous. If facing difficulty were the only thing required of courage, then all a would-be hero would have to do is create obstacles to overcome, and voilà! — courage would be born."

The many cultural and political opinions that surround abortion make it vulnerable for Christians to grapple with. Regardless, God must rule and reign over the issue. We hope that He has shown you how to be thankful for the truth and hope that He has given you. We also pray that you remember the ways that He has called you to be compassionate at the same time. Whenever we open our eyes to the complex world around us, God — His Word, His love — must remain the lens through which we look. 

God has placed you where you are for a reason. He has given you gifts, talents, and passions to display His glory and to do good to those around you. Go to the office, study at school, and do work around your home with your eyes fixed on Christ and your service centered on others. Stay energized and innovative in your efforts to bring Jesus Christ, who is the Living Water, to women — or men — struggling with an unplanned pregnancy. Continue to ask pro-life ministries near and far how you can use your life to bless them. Keep having those conversations with other believers about what it means to be and to act in a Christ-like pro-life manner.

We believe that you can stand up against the wave of cultural norms and political pressures (from either side!) that try to overtake you. You can help create a ‘new normal’ within your generation. You can let go. You can be secure in who you are in God — rather than needing to look successful or powerful in order to feel good about yourself. You can be strong enough to co-suffer with those in different circumstances than yours. You can love well, serving God’s Kingdom, rather than just building your own. You can do all of this as a child of God — because, in your weakness, He is strong (2 Corinthians 12:9). This is pure religion. It is giving life to the vulnerable and receiving a greater life than you could have imagined in return. 

// WORK 

What are the big ideas God has taught you during your 30 Days with Save the Storks? Journal about them! God has called you to a life that is spent on behalf of others. (Remember Isaiah 58:10 from Day 1?) How do you plan to take the lessons you have learned these thirty days and implement them in your life? 

J. I. Packer once said, “Knowing God is a relationship calculated to thrill a person’s heart.” As you have gotten to know more of His heart through the reading of His Word, we hope that your heart has been thrilled with energy, innovation, and truth. Throughout the past thirty days, we hope that God has inspired you to live differently. We pray that you feel ready and eager to bring His light, His nourishment, and His guidance to the people in our society that need Him the most.

It’s up to you to take the next step. We challenge you to continue laying down your own life (that others might find life), all the while inviting others to do the same. We invite you to remember to prioritize truthful, loving speech that seeks to build others up amidst a culture that praises self-aggrandizing talk. We hope you will answer Jesus’ call to bear the burdens of those caught in the trap of believing that abortion is the only option for dealing with an unplanned pregnancy by speaking the truth to life: that the child that is inside of them is fearfully and wonderfully made and is worthy of being given a chance of life on this earth, and to do that not just for thirty days — but for a lifetime. Together, let’s reimagine a pro-life movement that inspires our culture to serve and celebrate every life, no matter the circumstance, through love, compassion, and action.