Issue One, Part One of Three
Most who read this blog are likely from Ohio and aware of the passing of a new amendment to our state constitution that enshrines the murder of unborn children into law. Those who love God and His righteousness, rightfully so, wake up this morning sorrowful that our state has chosen to accelerate down a path of unrighteousness. I decided to write about how we should think through these issues, and also decided that I would try to keep my posts shorter and divide this up into three parts. In this blog, I want to deal with the sorrow we might be experiencing this morning as we see what has occurred. In part two, I will deal with the aspect of this that I believe is God’s judgment upon our state and nation. In part three, I will deal with a final aspect regarding what God may be doing in His church through this.
For this blog, though, I would like to address the sorrow, and perhaps even disillusionment, that some Christians might feel this morning. One of the keys to not allowing our sorrow to turn into full-on despair is to be thankful, and Christians are called to be thankful in all things. Now, you might wonder what there is to be thankful about in a situation like this.
First, we can be thankful that we have been living in a society that, to a great extent, has honored God’s Word and His righteousness in many aspects. If we were to look throughout history, we would find tyranny, we would find persecution of Christians, and we would find godlessness is more the norm for the vast majority of societies over time. But we who live in the United States, and much of the west, have been living in a society that has honored and even continues to honor much of God’s Word. The freedom we still enjoy is consistent with the Word of God, and many of our laws are fitting for punishing evil and promoting good. We can complain about the direction we are heading, or we can look at the blessings that we have had and still have and be thankful. I am not suggesting we stick our heads in the sand about the direction, but what I am suggesting is we should not be ungrateful for the blessings we enjoy.
I am not suggesting we stick our heads in the sand about the direction, but what I am suggesting is we should not be ungrateful for the blessings we enjoy.
Second, we can be thankful that, despite the vast majority of people in our society who are on the broad road, there are still significant numbers of people in Ohio who voted no on this issue. We acknowledge that it was not enough to keep the issue from passing, but 44% of people or so who came out to speak on the issue voted against it. In other words, in a culture that is growing in godlessness, there are still many who desire for righteousness to be enforced regarding the lives of the unborn. According to God’s Word, Christians should expect to be in the minority, and we are, but the minority is not as small as the body of Christ. No doubt there are many unbelievers in that 44% of population, and yet they were in agreement with God’s standard on this issue. Again, if we were to examine history over time, this is something we should be thankful for.
Third, we can be thankful that God is sovereign. My final two posts will expound on this further, but we must be clear that what God decrees is always intended for good. Now, I know the human response to that is, what good could come of the continuation of the murder of unborn children? I am sure Joseph would have wondered what good could come out of being sold into slavery, or Moses might have asked what good could come of being caught between Pharaoh’s army and the Red Sea, but we see these and so many other narratives in Scripture where God brought forth good time and time again through seemingly terrible circumstances. One could even argue, what good could come from killing the innocent, and yet it was the crucifixion of an innocent Man, Jesus, that brings forth salvation for all who believe. God is using everything for good, including the passage of this issue. Our role is not to figure it all out, although I intend to lay out some implications in the next two blog posts, but it is to simply have faith that God knows all that He is doing.
One could even argue, what good could come from killing the innocent, and yet it was the crucifixion of an innocent Man, Jesus, who brings forth salvation for all who believe.
Those three thoughts of thankfulness are running through my mind this morning, helping me to not be frustrated with the passage of this amendment. I hope that they might be helpful for you too as you process all of this. Let us find reasons to give thanks, let us trust in our sovereign God, and let us continue to be faithful. I hope to publish parts 2 and 3 on consecutive days, so stay tuned for those.
