The country feels like it’s at war with itself again. The last two years have seen no shortage of issues that cause people to be angry, and they feel the need to shout about it—either online or in a public square waving a sign.

While my own heart rejoiced and sighed with relief to hear the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, it also constricted with tension the moment I got on social media. Calls for anger and rage and protest flicked by me on the screen one after another, and the darkness felt heavy.

The darkness feels heavy because it’s being threatened. A ray of hope has shot through the oppressive chambers of death and destruction, and such light can’t be tolerated by the darkness. This is bound to make the battleground fiercer and stronger, and thus it’s not a time where believers can back down from fighting for truth, compassion, and justice.

We have to remember that the Bible tells us we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but “against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12). There is an enemy of our souls who not only wants to bring as much death on this earth as possible, but also as much hurt, loneliness, and depression as he can.

And now is the time to counter that with as much love, community, and hope as we possibly can. We have to create an atmosphere of trust and belonging, so that when a friend comes to us and tells us with tears in her eyes that she just found out she’s pregnant, we can wrap our arms around her and say, “You’re not alone.”

We have to create networks of support so that she can choose to raise her baby on her own if she wants. We have to be ready to help educate with as many resources and options as possible. We have to weep together and open Scripture and find hope and redemption in unlikely places.

Our world is filled with desperate people in desperate situations. Abortion seems to be the easiest way out of those situations. But it never brings the healing, hope, and confidence that people say it will. Instead, it brings a host of traumas, haunting nightmares, painful regrets, and consistent lying to oneself until the conscience quiets down.

But as believers, now is the time to meet people in the midst of that trauma and help them find the forgiveness that only Christ gives. Christ, the Savior who wasn’t afraid of speaking to a lonely woman at the well who’d given herself away far too many times, self-righteous Pharisees, and men who’d cheated fellow citizens out of their money.

He knows our sin better than we do, and he looks straight into our eyes to tell us, “For even this I died.” No regret is too great, no pathway too dark, no hurt too deep to be held by the One who conquered it all on the cross. And this is the message that those who are hurting—from unintended pregnancies or abortions—need to hear most of all.

Last evening, I went for a walk, and I lifted my face to the sunshine, grateful for its light and warmth and grateful that I felt so at peace with my life. I passed orange poppies lining a neighbor’s yard and red rambler roses spilling over a white fence. The sun was just beginning to set, and it filled the neighborhood with the golden glow of a new summer. Everywhere I looked, there was something to praise God for.

And my soul felt burdened for those who are either too angry or hurting right now to see the hope and peace all around them. I long for others to experience God’s grace as I have, and I know that my duty is to fight for them through prayer.

My duty isn’t to prove how right I am. My duty isn’t to throw around slogans and hashtags. My duty isn’t to gloat or sit back and relax.

My duty, as someone who believes in the sanctity of life, is to pray boldly, speak truthfully, and live compassionately.

I must pray boldly for God to continue working in the hearts and minds of lawmakers and legislators so that they don’t back down in the fight for life. I must pray boldly for women to find the care and hope they need. I must pray boldly that Christians all across the country would step up to provide for crisis needs in their community.

I must speak truthfully about what I believe about abortion and unborn babies. I must speak truthfully when being attacked and point back to what God’s Word says and what science unflinchingly proves. I must speak truthfully when lies come at me and trust that the Holy Spirit will give me words to say in every situation.

And finally, I must live compassionately so that those who are most desperate would find hope and grace in my actions. I must live compassionately so that others can trust me and ask me for help and prayer. I must live compassionately so that the light of Christ can shine into the darkest places. I must live compassionately so that mothers feel safe to choose life for their babies when they otherwise might not have.

I personally can’t solve all the problems, meet all the needs, or answer all the questions that people have when it comes to abortion and unplanned pregnancies. But I can stand for what I know is right, help where I can, and pray that God’s mighty hand would work in ways that I cannot.

Every life matters. The lives in the wombs. The lives of the women carrying the babies. The lives of the men who are fathers to those babies. Now is the time to keep speaking up boldly and lovingly for those lives until the legal mass murder of helpless babies comes to an end.

 

Soli Deo Gloria.

 

Photo by Isaac Quesada on Unsplash.