Right to Life

                My family and I were enjoying Saturday at my aunt’s house this past weekend and we were all excited to see a birdhouse with baby bluebirds.  I loved peeking in the little hole and seeing three little blind featherless creatures pop their heads up in the hopes of coming food.  A little while later, my niece and nephew came by each holding a six week old dachshund puppy.  Talk about heart melt! 

             Seeing the birds and puppies reminded me once again how much I love life.  And it’s not just life in the form of adorable baby animals. I feel the same way when I look in my garden and see new sprouts breaking through the ground, or my tomato plants recover from being under watered, which unfortunately, is something that happens more often than I care to admit. I suppose it’s just the inner cheerleader in me; the part that sees the potential of what could be. It’s as if I have internal pompoms that I shake while screaming, “Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay, LIFE!”

               My love for life in people is the same, only magnified.  People, the most intricate and special of all of God’s Earthly creations, are walking images of their Creator. Their potential and value are without measure.   That is why abortion is so heinous to me. It’s the ending of life. On purpose! Not only that, but it’s the ending of His life; life created by and belonging to the Creator.  Make no mistake about it, God takes the purposeful deaths of His creation personal and He does indeed listen to the cries of judgement from the blood spilled of innocent victims, no matter how young they are.

               There is, however, another side to the abortion issue that bothers me. It’s the harming of those who have abortions.  This really struck a nerve with me the other day when I saw images of some well-meaning individuals protesting at a local abortion clinic. The signs the protesters held, while again, well-meaning, were bothersome to me as a Christian. They were not loving, compassionate, or kind; characteristics which should be the hallmark of a Christian faith.

               This is where I believe we need to be careful as followers of Jesus Christ. Every person has a right to life; those in the womb as well as well as those carrying the womb.   The Bible makes it very clear that we have the power of life and death within the very words we speak (Proverbs 18:21). That means we have the ability to inflict lasting damage on someone by being vile or mean, and as I said earlier, God takes that very personal.  The women having abortions are as much His creations as the children those women are carrying. And because He is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34), He loves them the same as he does any faithful believer.

              Am I saying that Christians don’t need to protest? No. People need to do what God is leading them to do, and if that means standing outside a clinic trying to prevent an abortion, then they need to be obedient.  It’s just important for us to remember that in whatever we do, we are representing Jesus to people who may have never heard of Him. And all people, no matter what they are doing, have a right to life.