Life is Sacred

Way back in May, as a family, we had started reading a book written by Randy Alcorn, entitle Safely Home. Due to various circumstances, it took us MUCH longer to finish this book than it would have prior to our trip to Africa. We finally finished last night. It was a wonderful book, as are most by this author. Alcorn has a beautiful way of taking his readers into Heaven, and showing them what is the UNSEEN of earthly circumstances. This book is no exception. I cried through most of the final chapters. It is very difficult to read aloud when you are crying :)

There were several lines in this book that pierced my soul, but the beginning of one chapter was the most thought provoking. The following is a an excerpt from chapter 49 of this book. The scene takes place in Heaven, before the throne of the Jesus.

"They watched the King, surrounded by a great crowd of angels bringing their concerns before Him. While few of them were permitted this close to His throne, these has special access-not because of who they were, but whom they represented.

Li Manchu, Li Wen, and Li Tong came close. Because of their relation to the King, their blood was royal and their access unrestricted. The king drew them into the surface of His vast mind, that they could see what He saw. Children abandoned and living on streets, abducted, beaten, molested, cut to pieces by men dressed in white, exterminated by human pesticides.

"See that you do not look down on one of these little ones," the King said, projecting His voice down toward the dark world so loudly it was heard on earth as thunder. "For I tell you that their angels in Heaven always behold the face of my Father."

The King pointed to a church custodian yelling at children unauthorized to play on the swings and chasing them away. "Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these."

The King spoke to people out for Sunday dinner after church, who turned away from the street children. "Your Father in Heaven is not willing that any of these little ones be lost."

The He watched a man and woman taking children off the streets, bringing them into a building, and giving them a warm meal and a cot and a safe refuge, and telling them about their Master. On one side of the planet, in Africa, He watched his people caring for children born with AIDS, many of them orphans, or soon to be.

The King nodded His approval. "Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me."

He watched His people give the children a warm bath, read stories to them, hug them,and laugh with them. He smiled broadly. "Thank you," the King whispered, "for doing this to me."

He looked now at men plotting and stalking and taking pictures of children, doing to them the unthinkable. He looked at men herding frightened little girls together and selling them to foreigners. He looked at the men in white coats, driving beautiful cars purchased by the blood of children. He looked at those who inflicted the suffering. His eyes smoldered.

"I made these children. I took them in my arms, put my hands on them, and blessed them. And yet you scorn them, use them for your gain, treat them as disposable. It would be better for you to have a millstone tied around your neck and be thrown into the sea than to face what I will surely do to you."

He looked now at others who turned their heads from the children, too busy to share a meal, a blanket, or a paycheck. They did little or nothing to help the children, and He regarded their failure to help as the inflicting of harm. "To you who look the other way, saying my children are not your concern: Repent! For it is I you have turned away from. I will not forget."

He gazed at another group of people, those watching out for and reaching out to and helping the children. He simply said, "Well done. Your reward shall be great."

The king watched the children again, though the men new He had never stopped watching them. For a moment He smiled, then laughed; then suddenly He saw something else. The tears flowed from His eyes; then they burned with a blistering heat.

"Many on earth look away from the children," said Li Tong to Fu Liko. "But the eyes of heaven never look way from them. Never."

There is much thought and consideration this week about life, as this is Sanctity of Human Life week. A time where we are to reflect on how precious life is. Lives created by God and for God. While the primary focus of this week for most is the unborn, I want to remember that all life is sacred. Beginning with conception, through the final breaths of the elderly. Every child deserves to be celebrated, loved, and protected. Whether in the womb, or out. Healthy or inflicted with disease. Whole or disabled. Those with all their chromosomes in tact and those with extra or missing chromosomes. Whether young and able bodied, or the old and infirm. All life is precious, and should be protected. When we have our focus on the Creator of life, we see how very precious life is. When we remember that our Lord values those unborn children that He has knit together, the thought of taking their lives should make us recoil with horror. So should children being used and exploited. Children starving and alone on the streets should make us cry out to the Father on their behalf. Then after imploring Him to intercede for them, we ought to rise and serve them. In doing so, scripture tells us we are serving Jesus. Not that He is pleased that we have served another....but that have actually done it TO him.

Lord, continue to grow in me a passion for your children. Give me wisdom to know how best to serve and love you, by serving and loving them. Passion for you Jesus, no more, no less, this is my prayer.