Reimagining Pro-Life: 30 Days With Save the StorksНамуна

HEART //

What do you think of when you think of God’s blessings? It might be your current job, a healthy family, or the meal right in front of you. We all desire God’s blessings, but in His economy, blessings come in all forms, and the best is definitely not material. As we read yesterday, the world and its desires are passing away. It’s the forever sorts of blessings that God seems to be most interested in! What does it really mean to be “blessed”, then? In the Bible, the word blessed describes someone who is happy and favored. The riches of God center around the fact that His people are living with Him now in the Spirit while doing His will on earth, and will spend eternity with Him later. . . A relationship that is grace-based (favored) and joyful (happy)! 

Reading today’s verse feels literally backward, opposite, to how we, as humans, naturally pursue blessings. But it gives us such insight! Even while we wait for eternity’s doorstep, we can draw close to our indestructible destiny through sacrifice and service. We find real blessings as we serve one another, as a tribe of people who depend not just on ourselves — but on God. After all, those who taste His Kingdom are not necessarily powerful or well-known individuals. Mostly poor, grieving, meek, hungry and thirsty for righteousness, merciful and pure in heart, we may not look like much, and we certainly don’t all look or talk the same, but we are united under the eternal promises of God. 

In God’s coming Kingdom, there will be no poverty, no mourning, no hunger, no thirst, and, ultimately, no distance between us and God. We can be more sure of this than we are that the sun will set on us tonight! Because we are confident that God’s backward Kingdom is arriving soon, we can work expectantly and determinedly for it now. 

As Kingdom workers, we must learn to show and share our resolute hope with those who have none. Matthew 5 gives us a glimpse into the way our Eternal God thinks of human suffering. Even the meek, the mourning and the persecuted are blessed because He is near to the brokenhearted (Psalms 34:18) Surely, a woman facing an unplanned pregnancy feels hopeless and scared, and her fears are legitimate. As a pro-life people, the Church should seek to bless her in her brokenness by coming alongside with our prayer, love, and resources.

We have the eyes to see how God wants to comfort her and the opportunity for Him to be strong in her weakness. We hold the light in the darkness and the key to grace-filled joy in our own lives and stories. We have hope to share! We need never worry about blessing someone too much. That is the nature of our God! 

Some may be concerned with enabling unhealthy choices. This is valid, but ‘enabling’ and ‘blessing’ are very different. To enable is to prop up unhealthy behavior, while to bless is to make space for God to come in truth, grief, change, and peace — all of which are wrapped in sacrificial love. Blessing shows people who are hurting that they don’t need to run to solutions this world has to offer (all of the unhealthy behavior they’ve been depending on) because they are supported through community and faith in a miraculous God. Blessing others in their brokenness embodies this truth: when we are weak, we are actually strong, because our brokenness is a canvas for God’s glorious grace (2 Corinthians 12:10). 

// WORK

Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you the ways that you have been seeking earthly prominence, favor, security or purely material blessings. Pray that God would increasingly satisfy you with His steadfast love instead (Psalms 90:14). How has your water fast helped you to rely on God alone for satisfaction?

When you are satisfied in Christ, you will find yourself full of Living Water, joyfully pouring into the lives of others.

Let’s practice overflowing with loving action — letting go of our expectations for fairness and need for acknowledgment. Serve one person today without expecting the favor to be returned. You could send a note of encouragement to someone who is sick or lonely. If it’s not your normal job, you could cook dinner for your family. You could share a smile and a conversation with someone in need on the street. You could even drop an anonymous treat on a neighbor’s porch or, to continue the focus on reimagining the pro-life movement, drop some notes and snacks to the staff of a nearby pregnancy resource center. There are so many opportunities to love others! 

To wrap up today, enjoy this short encouragement from Ahna Cameron, Kirk and Chelsea Cameron’s daughter, on using whatever we’re given to serve others.