Embracing Life — Day 34

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Embracing Life -- Day 34

Chandra White-Cummings

Day 34: Where the Rubber Meets the Road

I had lunch on Saturday afternoon with a very good friend of mine and her husband. My friend Angela is founder of Sisters for Life in Kentucky, and she was in Dayton leading a workshop on transforming communities through intercessory prayer. At lunch, we were talking shop and the conversation turned to how we pray, and what we pray for, when we go to abortion clinics. Somehow we ended up talking about praying for the abortionists. We both chuckled and agreed that praying for the physicians who perform abortions is somewhat of a litmus test of our purity of motivation and strength of dedication to seeing abortion end. But is that the only reason we pray for them? Today’s 40 Days devotional calls us to reflect on this.

We also pray for the abortion providers because the Bible commands us to. We’re told to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us; and we’re instructed to pray for all men. I think under any reasonable interpretation of either scripture, the abortion docs qualify. But let’s be honest. Do we really want to? There are times when the answer is no. Or we might not mind praying, but we want to pray our own desires for them. Something like, “Lord, hold back any blessings from them until they stop what they’re doing.” But we do pray. We ask for the Lord to save them. God’s word indicates that He desires that no one would perish. Again, that includes the abortionists.

And we pray for them because it brings God’s glory. In order to be really effective in this arena, we realize how critical it is that we have God’s heart for people first and foremost. Our Lord Jesus Christ didn’t die to save issues. He sacrificed His life for people. People who do things that oppose His will, that hurt others whom He died for, and that damage lives. We don’t like Martin Haskell, or George Tiller, or any of the others. We stand vehemently against what they believe and we unequivocally oppose their role in the death of 50 million children. But we’re not called to like them or agree with them. We’re called to love them, which includes praying for them.

With so many children still dying every day and so much at stake, this is not the time for lofty debates and abstract ideas. Now is the time to put the pedal to the metal and let the rubber hit the road.

Find out more at the 40 Days for Life website.

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