A Christian's Duty

Political/World Issues 

I would like to share with you something that guest writer --  Chris Hutto  posted recently on his Google + page.  I hope that it is encouraging and convicting.  Please share your thoughts and comments (whether positive or negative)!

A Christian's Duty 

Is it the Christian's duty to speak out for the unborn children? I believe it is. What should our response be to the 3,500 children being murdered everyday in the U.S. alone? The Bible actually gives us a pretty clear answer.

Proverbs 24:11-12 states it very bluntly:

 “If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?” 

It is our duty to “deliver them that are drawn unto death and those that are ready to be slain.” And God is the Judge of those actions and will “render to every man according to his works.” The Lord sees the innocent babies that are sacrificed on the alter of convenience and God sees what you and I are doing about it.
    

God cherishes children and teaches us to as well. 

“Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.” 

Proverbs 127:3 tells us that the unborn children in a mother's womb is God's reward to us.

 Psalm 139:13-14 says, “For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.” 

God is the author of life. He created each human being inside of their mother. Abortion interrupts the perfect hand of God right in the middle of his precious sculpting. Before He had time to complete His miraculous work the baby is torn to pieces by the cruel hand of man.

The womb should be the safest place for a child and yet it has become a place of imminent death; a precarious balance between convenience and guilt. This is a battle between life and death. This battle is not carnal but spiritual. And it must be fought with spiritual weapons for they are mighty through God. Often that means standing with the unborn, drawing them from destruction. We must be the voice for the dumb. We must have a “readiness to revenge all disobedience” by bringing into “captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” Our minds need to be reprogrammed to seeing things the way Christ does. Every life is precious. If you believe that you will do something about it.

      

Most Christians are like the people that James was addressing in chapter 5. 

“Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.” 

We live in a day of slaughter. It is as real as the Jewish Holocaust but abortion is happening under our watch. We nourish our hearts with pleasure while thousands of lives are denied birth. Am I trying to make you feel guilty? No. But maybe the cries of the thousands of innocents already has. You may be thinking, “but I am pro-life!” Where is the proof? Where is the action?
     

Does belief negate our responsibility to action? As Christians we focus a lot on our belief system. We love the words “trust” and “believe.” But what about the word “work?” Belief is essential but it doesn’t stop there.

 James 1:22 says, “But be ye doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” 

Verse 25 of the same chapter says, “But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.” 

Many are afraid of the word “work” because so many professing Christians have highjacked the term and have made it a part of salvation and sanctification. We know that salvation comes by grace through faith. But the Bible does have a lot to say about working our salvation outwardly. The work is evidence that we have faith. As a Christian our belief must turn to action. What good is a belief if it is not practiced?

 I have to clarify a few things because I'm sure that a few thoughts have come into your head as you read this. I am not saying that good works are part of salvation because our righteousness is as filthy rags. I am not saying that we need to work for the Lord to please Him because as a child of God I am already excepted. I am not condemning Christians for inaction but extorting them to action. I am not advocating that we need to get out there and do His work in our own strength because without Him I can do nothing. But what I am saying is that,

  

“Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” James 1:27. 

That verse explains the reality of Christ's love flowing out of us.
 What is the great commandment? According to Jesus in Matthew 22:36-40 it is, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” 

So first we love the Lord and out of that love for Him we can love our neighbor. Who is our neighbor? A certain lawyer in Luke 10 asked Jesus that very question and He answered with the parable we call the good Samaritan. Without going into the whole story it can be summarized in a few sentences. A man on his way to Jericho was attacked by thieves and was robbed and beaten and left on the side of the road to die. A priest came by but instead of helping the dying man just went on his way. A Levite also passed by but ignored the man as well. Finally a Samaritan, who normally hate the Jews, came by and had compassion on the man and helped him. Isn't that a perfect picture of the thousands of babies being murdered by abortion every single day? The worlds babies are robbed of their humanity and cast aside. The religious people, Christians today, often pass by without saying a word, let alone do something for them. The Christians that have a love for Christ and for our neighbor will be like the good Samaritan, though hated by the majority, and help the unborn children.

     

James 2:8-10 says, “ If ye fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” 

Christians should not be partial to one human being over another. We will defend other nationalities against racism and the Jews against antisemitism but why wont we defend the unborn children against ageism? And I am not talking about holding a belief in equal rights. Wilberforce helped abolished slavery in England through action. Martin Luther King Jr. believed in action. The founding fathers of the U.S. Constitution believed in action. The Apostles believed in action. Where would we be today if everyone just kept their beliefs to themselves?

Baby at 24 weeks 

James 2:14-17 is a good example of this. “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled: notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead being alone.”
    

What do our words mean if no action follows? Nothing. They say actions speak louder than words. Not everyone has to speak out for the unborn in the same way but I am proposing that every Christian should have a part. The unborn cannot defend themselves. Who will if not for us? They are our neighbors. They are precious in God's sight. They are without a voice.
     

I was reading in Proverbs 31 and found something very interesting. Proverbs 31 was written to a king named Lemuel. It is written to him by his mother. First she instructs him in what a king should and shouldn't do. Then later on she explains what a virtuous woman looks like but right in the middle of those verses there are two that stood out to me. 

“Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction. Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.”

 She tells him that he must open his mouth in defense of those that are dumb and headed to destruction and to judge righteously. The reason that I found it so interesting is that I believe this command was both the king (government) and part of the virtuous woman's description. It is something that the government should be doing; protecting its weakest citizens. But when they fail to do their God given job it is up to the people and mothers especially to speak out for the unborn.
In a hundred years from now how will American's see the Christians of 2014? Will they see them standing in opposition to the evil of our age or will they see a people who give lip service to God and fail to love their neighbor as themselves? The answer is up to us. The answer is up to you Christian.