I should be working on conference prep for the Pursuit Youth Conference this weekend, but instead I’m holding my babies extra close this morning.
Proposal 3 just passed in Michigan, making our state one of the most radical pro-abortion states in the nation. Under this proposal, abortion is protected at any point of pregnancy for any reason.
We live in a culture of death. I really can’t believe how difficult it is to convince people that life is worth protecting.
A culture of death
Everywhere we turn, our culture is pursuing death. From sterilizing children with cross-sex hormones after puberty blockers, celebrating unnatural sexual unions to killing children in the safety of their mother’s womb. Satan champions these death-producing practices because he himself cannot produce life. It is something that humans, who are made in the creative, life-giving image of God, can do. Our enemy can only bring death and destruction.
Raising these babies, literally bringing life into this world, is the greatest form of resistance I have. There are many ways to resist, to fight back, to make a difference. But for me, right now, this is it. God promises that the way we raise our children will impact generations to come. For good or bad.
When Israel was given the Promised Land, God told them to be relentless, to drive out the wickedness, to not give the enemy a foothold. And he spoke directly to parents in Deuteronomy 7:2 “Make no treaty with [the enemy nations] and show them no mercy. Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, for they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods, and the Lord’s anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you. This is what you are to do to them: Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles and burn their idols in the fire. For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.”
Now, let me be clear. America is not Israel, and we are not conquering enemy territory in a *literal* sense. But we are most certainly battling the enemy in a very real way. The church, in the New Testament, is called the chosen people of God. We are His people (1 Peter 2:9). And we are conquering enemy territory in our lives and in the lives of our children.
An act of resistance
We must not feel defeated. We must not be dismayed. You know what really makes the enemy cringe? When, in spite of our losses, we resist. We rejoice. We continue to sing the praises of the God who is faithful!
The way we live affects not only our lives but the next generation and the ones after that. The next few verses remind us of that. “Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands. (Deuteronomy 7:9)”
May we, as God’s image bearers, boldly pursue a culture of life. May we, as the Church, mercilessly defend the unborn, shamelessly celebrate marriage between a husband and a wife, generously support single mothers, encourage young families in our churches, speak positively about the joy of parenthood, and resist this culture of death.
I can say that I’m proud to be a mother this morning.
It is holy, life-giving work. In a culture of death, it is an act of resistance.
