Let Them Come To Me

"But Jesus said, 'Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for such is the kingdom of heaven.'"  Matthew 19:14 NKJV

If I know anything today, its that this world sure can give me a headache!  I read an article this morning on a Christian news site about a Christian pharmacist from Walgreen's was terminated because he refused to sell the "morning after" pill to a customer.  After reading some of the comments posted there, it became more apparent that we are in deep trouble - as Christians and as a nation.

My heart dropped the more I read and then I got angry.  This is what I see.  We are becoming more about what's convenient about us and less about what was commanded by Him.  Following His commandments and our Christian doctrines is easy when its convenient for us.  But the very moment that it becomes tough or stands in the way of what we want, it's easy to rationalize it away.

One Christian stated that there was not one scripture that spoke against using contraceptives.  That very well may be, but I do know exactly what God thinks of children.   The Bible presents children as gifts from God (Genesis 4:1), heritage from the Lord (Psalm 127:3-5), a blessing from God (Luke 1:42) and a crown to the aged (Proverbs 17:6).  I seriously don't believe our God would view favorably on rejecting a gift or blessing from Him.

Another Christian argued that the "morning after pill" wasn't really harmful; that it's often confused with the abortion pill.  She said that the "morning after pill" wouldn't harm a pregnancy that was already established.  I'm going to be honest here.  I don't know much about contraceptives other than the traditional birth control.  I never had a need to.  However, upon doing my own research I discovered that this particular contraceptive works in one of three ways: (1) it alters the normal menstrual cycle so ovulation is delayed; (2) ovulation is inhibited, meaning the egg would not be released from the ovary; or (3) it irritates the lining of the uterus to inhibit implantation.

Lets brush up on our biology for a minute.  Fertilization (the union of a female egg and male sperm) occurs in the fallopian tube.  According to Discovery Health, the fastest sperm can fertilize an egg within 30 minutes of sex.  Some even make it to the fallopian tube and "hang out" until the egg arrives.  Human life begins with fertilization, thus the beginning of the pregnancy.  The newly created child then travels down the fallopian tube to the uterus where he or she implants.  Implantation is necessary for the new child to receive nourishment from the mother and continue developing.  The journey from the fallopian tube to the womb takes between five and seven days during which pregnancy cannot be readily detected.  Therefore, if a woman ingests emergency contraceptive after fertilization has taken place, the third mode of action can occur.  The lining of the uterus can be altered causing the women to reject the living embryo, making implantation impossible and the child will die.  This result is called a chemical abortion.

Again it's easy to rationalize that away, too.  This method is much better than slaughtering thousands of babies in the future.  Killing a living being is still murder and the last time I checked, God was pretty  much against that.  "Kill them now or kill the later" doesn't really sound as sweet.

Face it.  We live in a society that teaches us that we can have it all, be it all, and experience it all.  We are liberated from the rules that, by their philosophy, only holds us back.  We want to do our own thing - with no strings attached.  In this case, we can have sex all we want with no physical baggage to lug around.  But the problem is this:Christians aren't living different from this world.

We are so caught up in what we want and how we want to live.  This way of thinking gets us trapped in habits, relationships and lifestyles that only hurt us in the end. When life is all about us, there is not much room for God.  When there isn't room for God, we live conformed to our culture, thus aligning ourselves with the world.  The world would have us to believe that all life belongs to us.  But God's Word tells us that all life belongs to Him.  We are to conform to His ways rather that that of the world.  Nothing about us belongs to us.  We are Christ's ambassadors.  Living as His.  Christ is Lord over all, including that tiny little embryo.  We have no right to issue a death sentence.  Only God has and should have that power.  We weren't made to control this world or our circumstances.  We were made to trust in God's plan and His guidance.  You can't pick and choose what you want to believe and by what code you want to live.  If you are going to live a God-centered life, you have to first submit to Him.  That means allowing Him to have complete control.  We become living sacrifices.  It's time to stop watering it down and sugarcoating it for the world.  There will come a day when God won't be sugarcoating anything!

The underlying problem is immorality and it always has been.  We, as Christians, need to boldly stand firm, on our faith and on the Word of God (not our interpretation of it!).  It's time we lay down ourselves and stop hopping off the altar.  We are a living sacrifice.  We are His ambassadors and we should be as such.