Men we Need to Talk...Continued |
Day 12 |
The biggest obstacle many men face to providing leadership in confronting abortion is personal guilt. Perhaps it was an old girlfriend. Perhaps it was even a wife or a daughter. Men try to forget the role they played, but the memory of that unborn child won’t go away.
Because of guilt, many men believe they have lost credibility to speak out on pro-life issues.
They could not be more mistaken. The gospel of Jesus Christ proclaims that everyone reading this sentence deserves judgement. In a thousand different ways, every last one of us has rebelled against our Creator who made us for His glory. That any of us are breathing right now is a sheer act of His grace.
In the dark western “Unforgiven,” starring Clint Eastwood as Will Munny, Will’s young sidekick, the Schofield Kid, kills a man. He is shaken by second thoughts. Munny’s response is devastating.
Munny: It’s a hell of a thing, killing a man...Kid: Yeah, well, I guess they had it coming. Munny: We all got it coming kid.
In Luke 12, Jesus Christ spoke of a tower that fell on unsuspecting people. He did not say the victims deserved to die while everyone else did not. Instead, He gave this stunning response: If you don’t repent, all of you will likewise perish. Jesus said that everyone has it coming. And, if we don’t repent, we, too, will perish.
Justification is our only way out. In response to our rebellion, God the Father sends Jesus to bear in full the judgement we deserve. Those who repent of their sins and trust Christ for salvation are declared righteous by God the Father, but not because of anything they have done. Rather, God removes their guilt based on Christ’s righteousness.
Martin Luther used the legendary example of a dunghill to describe our sinful state: ugly and offensive, having nothing in itself that would commend it to anyone, let alone God. Justification I s like the first snowfall of winter that covers everything, including the dunghill, in a blanket of pure white. The smell is gone. The dunghill is still a dunghill, but it’s covered.
Christ covers us with His own pure and spotless righteousness as the blanket that covers our sin in the sight of the Father. Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us, removing our guilt and covering our offense. Of course, we remain sinners and need the work of sanctification to conform us to the image of Christ. But our sins are no longer held against us.
If you’re in Christ, you can talk about abortion. Whatever your past, you’re covered.
Because of guilt, many men believe they have lost credibility to speak out on pro-life issues.
They could not be more mistaken. The gospel of Jesus Christ proclaims that everyone reading this sentence deserves judgement. In a thousand different ways, every last one of us has rebelled against our Creator who made us for His glory. That any of us are breathing right now is a sheer act of His grace.
In the dark western “Unforgiven,” starring Clint Eastwood as Will Munny, Will’s young sidekick, the Schofield Kid, kills a man. He is shaken by second thoughts. Munny’s response is devastating.
Munny: It’s a hell of a thing, killing a man...Kid: Yeah, well, I guess they had it coming. Munny: We all got it coming kid.
In Luke 12, Jesus Christ spoke of a tower that fell on unsuspecting people. He did not say the victims deserved to die while everyone else did not. Instead, He gave this stunning response: If you don’t repent, all of you will likewise perish. Jesus said that everyone has it coming. And, if we don’t repent, we, too, will perish.
Justification is our only way out. In response to our rebellion, God the Father sends Jesus to bear in full the judgement we deserve. Those who repent of their sins and trust Christ for salvation are declared righteous by God the Father, but not because of anything they have done. Rather, God removes their guilt based on Christ’s righteousness.
Martin Luther used the legendary example of a dunghill to describe our sinful state: ugly and offensive, having nothing in itself that would commend it to anyone, let alone God. Justification I s like the first snowfall of winter that covers everything, including the dunghill, in a blanket of pure white. The smell is gone. The dunghill is still a dunghill, but it’s covered.
Christ covers us with His own pure and spotless righteousness as the blanket that covers our sin in the sight of the Father. Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us, removing our guilt and covering our offense. Of course, we remain sinners and need the work of sanctification to conform us to the image of Christ. But our sins are no longer held against us.
If you’re in Christ, you can talk about abortion. Whatever your past, you’re covered.
What to Pray for Today:
|
1. Pray for Men who Carry Abortion Shame.
Ask God to capture them with the glorious truth of justification. Pray that their shame is replaced with the confidence that comes, not through their own efforts, but through Christ who covers them with His righteousness. |
2. Pray for Pastors to Teach, Preach and Counsel that Abortion is Sin.
Not in order to beat up post-abortion men emotionally, but so that they may be pointed to the remedy found in the gospel. |
3. Pray that Men Healed from the Sin of Abortion will find Their new-found Freedom to Talk about Abortion and Forgiveness.
Pray that God will use their redeemed lives to point others to the freedom found only in Christ. |
