Sobering Statement

While listening to the live training call tonight, David Bereit made a statement that was really startling and sobering for me. I would not say that it was something I was unaware of, but for some reason it really "stopped me in my tracks" I guess. The statement that he made was that abortion "is the #1 cause of death in America". Following him making that statement, I got to wondering why this fact does not cause the body of Christ to be more mobilized to stand against abortion in our nation. It also begs the question that if these were babies who were being killed after their actual delivery, wouldn't the Christian church as a whole be out in droves against that? So, my question is this...how do we communicate effectively to our brothers and sisters in Christ that this problem demands urgency and large numbers of participants? I sometimes think that people get in their minds "Well, it is the law of the land. And it has been legal and on demand for 36 years. We can't change anything!". I can understand that; I used to think that way. However, the Lord impressed upon me that ultimately fighting abortion is a sin issue in the midst of a spiritual war; we cannot control it, that must be left in the hands of our merciful, gracious God.

At some point during the campaign in the fall, Audra said something that has definitely stuck with me (and I am paraphrasing, I am sure that Audra was much more eloquent when she said it!); she reminded me that even if we don't see a single person change their mind during our time out at the vigil, we are still called to be there and pray. She is so right! We may never know the impact that our prayers might have on one of the clinic patients, doctors, other workers, passersby, etc. We don't know how the Lord may move in our midst even when we are unaware. All that He asks is for our obedience and our service in His name.

"Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?" (Romans 6:16)