Now, I have debated this issue from a number of perspectives and viewpoints. I have spent countless hours analyzing the lives of the unborn from a political and scientific spectrum. Here’s the reality, though, my motivation for standing and fighting for the rights of the unborn stems not from my political beliefs or my trust in science. Instead, my motivation goes much deeper as it finds its genesis in the Word of God and His love for humanity.
A very quick summation of the aforementioned question concerning the worth or value of the unborn is this; Why do the unborn matter? Because God’s love and purpose for our lives didn’t begin after we were born. No, His love and purpose was alive and present before we were even in the womb and it continues today!
Scripture doesn’t shy away from this topic.
Job 31:15
Did not he who made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb?
Psalm 139:13-16
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
Isaiah 44:1-4
But now hear, O Jacob my servant, Israel whom I have chosen! Thus says the Lord who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you: Fear not, O Jacob my servant, Jeshurun whom I have chosen. For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. They shall spring up among the grass like willows by flowing streams.
Jeremiah 1:4-5
Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
Luke 1:13-17
But the angel said to him, Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to the turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.
Matthew 22:36-39
Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law? And he said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. (the unborn are neighbors)
Luke 1:41-44
And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.
Romans 8:29
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined he also called, and those he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
Ephesians 1:4-6
“¦even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
Do you see? This is why we do this work. This is why we advocate, preach, serve, and provide for families facing pregnancy decisions. Because we care about the things that God cares about. My value, your value did not magically begin when the pregnancy test read positive, when the ultrasound image populated the screen, or after our moms delivered us. No, my value, your value, began before the foundation of the world. God knew us pre-womb, in the womb, and He knows us post-womb. As I write this my wife is thirty weeks pregnant. This little boy has been growing, wiggling, and fighting the hiccups for quite some time now. Our family is in love already. His value today is no greater or smaller than it was back in late Summer when the pregnancy test flashed “pregnant”, when we first were blessed to see him on an ultrasound monitor, or when I will eventually cut his umbilical cord after he makes his appearance in the coming months. His value was designated and given to him by the God of the universe before the foundation of the world.
This truth brings me an incredible amount of joy and should spill out and compel me to fight for my unborn neighbors in policy discussions, inside of the pregnancy center, and especially inside of the local church. The Truth is a beautiful gift from God which is why we must not unhitch the life issue from His Word. Let’s get in the habit of valuing the ideals that our Lord values. The sanctity of life matters to me and you today because it matters to God. Now, let’s get to work making that Truth known!
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