Fight to love

We all know that once you’re pregnant, you’re pregnant. You can’t undo the pregnancy. But on January 22, 1973, abortion was granted permission to exist in all 50 states. Ensuring us that if you were pregnant and didn’t want to carry your child to term, you didn’t have to. 

However, through the lens of Christianity, most of us know that sin often disguises itself as “good” which is why we fall for it. In fact, Satan often uses good things that God created to tempt us into choosing sin. He distorts the truth in a way that makes evil look attractive. We only have to look at the book of Genesis, to see how he managed that. Looking back, we know that it was wrong of Eve to eat the apple, but how did Satan pull it off?

Let’s take a little journey to the Garden of Eden! Picture the most beautiful, ruby red, shiny apple, hanging from a leafy green tree. The thought of consuming it makes your stomach start to grumble. It’s been a long day walking about the garden, tending to the plants, and animals that God entrusted to you. But you’re starting to grow hungry. Standing right in front of you is this beautiful tree, and you remember God’s words. You can eat the fruit of ALL the other trees in the garden except this tree. Ugh. But that tree is standing right in front of you! Also, where the heck is Adam? Isn’t he supposed to be protecting the garden? Well, if Adam’s not here… your mind begins to wonder. But you remember this persistent nagging truth again, that God specifically told you not to. But gosh, doesn’t it just look so good?! You start thinking, why would God keep something so good away from me? Plus, now there’s this cool talking snake. He must be a good creature because God made him, too right? Well, and now Mr. Snake is telling you that God isn’t letting you eat of it because the fruit contains power. That this fruit is actually way more than just an ordinary apple. It has the power to make you like God Himself. Maybe then, if you were like God, you could decide for yourself what you could eat! You wouldn’t be so limited to only eating the fruit on the other side of the garden, plus, you wouldn’t have to walk so far. You could eat as many red delicious apples as you wanted!

Imagine the heart of Eve in the garden, as she reached for a delicious and pleasing apple. Hopeful. Excited. Willing. Yet, upon biting into the apple, she discovers she has been deceived. The apple, the fruit, is rotten.

Now, I’m not talking literally. No studies have been done to confirm whether or not the apple actually tasted good. Still, we all know the crushing disappointment that comes after purchasing a yummy, red, crisp looking apple, with no bruises. It looks good on the outside, but then you take that first bite, expecting a sharp, crunch… only to find a soft, slimy, center. Eww. It’s the WORST. I imagine that the apple that Eve reaches for in the Garden, not only separated her from God, but it didn’t even taste good! She got played by Satan and now all women suffer pain in childbirth. Not to mention both her and Adam will die. Yikes. Scripture reminds us, that the consequences of sin are death, and since they both ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they can no longer eat of the tree of life. (Genesis 3:22) Talk about a bad day.

Back to the story, so why does Eve ultimately reach for the apple? What is the last thing said to her before she finally grasps for the forbidden fruit? “God knows well that the moment you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods who know what is good and what is bad” (Genesis 3:5). Eve reaches for the fruit because she wants to be like God. She falls into sin when she forgets that she was already made in His image and likeness. Genesis 1:27 states, “God created man in his image, in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them.”

This brings us to a great truth. When we forget our own identity, as being made in the image of God, we often fail to see those around us as also being made in God’s image. When we forget that we are cherished and loved by God the Father, we tend to forget that others are loved and cherished by God the Father. When we forget our own God-given dignity, we forget the God-given dignity of others. We forget that they too are created in the image and likeness of God, and so we treat them as though they are not. Oof.

We know that in the heart of every human being, there exists a desire for good. People do not make bad decisions because they intentionally set out thinking that they want evil (unless they are Satan himself). We consent to evil because we believe it is what’s good for us, just like Eve. We know that we are ALL created in the image and likeness of God. No human being gets to escape their true identity. Not Eve, not Judas, not Hitler, not the annoying kid in your class, or the girl who talks funny. We are all created by God and for God. To love and to be loved.

When the world tells us that our identity is rooted in [insert anything other than God], we naturally fail to see ourselves as children of God. Our identity is tied up in pseudo-labels that fail to describe the fullness of who we are. We believe our identity is solely tied to our degree, our work, our profession, our status, our money, the number of likes we can get on a post, etc. and so we fail to see our own worth. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be trying so hard to make others see it. We forget that we are called by Beloved by the Father. 

The problem with abortion is not that we don’t have enough people speaking out about it, or that we don’t have not enough volunteers to pray in front of Planned Parenthood. The real problem is that we do not love ourselves enough. I’ll say that again until it sinks in. We do not love ourselves enough. If we do not love ourselves, then we must not like ourselves. If we do not like ourselves, we will make decisions that hurt or harm ourselves, which inadvertently causes pain to those around us. We fall victim to lies and create bigger wounds in our hearts as well as all those who come across our path. 

My proposition is this: we need to love ourselves enough to desire was is BEST for us. This will, in turn, allow us to desire what is BEST for others. Such as desiring to cast out sin or those life sucking things that lead us to sin. We know that sin leads to death (literally the apple = death), destruction, and sadness. Yet we still choose it. But why? Don’t we know by now that it’s just sugar-coated misery?

I firmly believe that if every human being understood that they were Beloved by God the Father, we would not have the problems we have today. Did you hear that? Beloved children of God. Loved by God, from all Eternity, regardless of the choices we have made. Despite the temptations or the obstacles, that the stupid chatty snake put in our way. God never ever EVER stops loving us and we can’t even comprehend it because we are finite beings. He gives us the gift of family to understand His love. How should we know His love, through the family, if we tolerate things that shake its foundation?

Abortion not only deprives a mother from loving her child, but also deprives a child from loving their mother. Here we begin to see a distorted view of the family and the human person. One that rejects the beauty of God’s love through the gift of life itself. If this evil is tolerated and perpetuated in our country today, how should we ever believe in our own dignity and worth?

But there is hope! God still loved Adam and Eve after they fell. God still loved Peter after he denied Jesus. God still loved Saul when he was out murdering Christians, but guess what? He loves us too much to leave us there. He loves us too much to let us stay in the Garden of Eden falling for false promises and eating rotten apples. He calls us to live with Him, and in Him because our first vocation is to live, and our second vocation is to love. Without the first, we cannot have the second. We must defend the sacredness of all human life. Since without life, we strip the world of the love God gives us through the dignity of the human person. Leaving us more hungry for authentic love. Everyone knows the saying, “We accept the love we think we deserve” but if we believe our own flesh and blood to be disposable, what kind of love does that leave us with?

Today I ask you to think about your family, your friends, your enemies, the annoying kid in class and think for a second. God infinitely loves you and calls you Beloved. He calls us all Beloved. Even those mothers who are afraid to carry a child to term, and even the babies that are killed in the womb. Which is why we must fight. Not fight to argue. Not fight to win. But fight to love. Fight to love those most vulnerable, or those who are persuaded into thinking abortion is a “good”. Fight to love them. Fight to show them their worth, their dignity, and their identity as beloved sons and daughters of God. 

What can you do today to show them that they are Beloved? Surely, if we live our lives loving those around us, reminding them of their inherent dignity and worth, maybe, just maybe, we will become a culture of life.