Designed by God - Set Apart for Him
by: Jonathan Hughes
11 Rescue those being led away to death;
hold back those staggering toward slaughter.
12a If you say, "But we knew nothing about this,"
does not He who weighs the heart perceive it?
Proverbs 24:11-12a
No doubt one of the greatest evils and largest lies being whispered among the masses of lost men and women today is that there is nothing special about our chiefest of gifts: life itself - [at least as they judge what to do with the lives of others.] Only the boldest among these unholy masses will go so far as to speak it outright, but multitudes will readily attest that human life is no more than a consequence, or coincidence of nature; or even just an accident. More people still, will recklessly endanger or purposefully abridge their life or the lives of others, unaware or apathetic of the value of every breath, every heartbeat. The Christian, however, is called to take an entirely different perspective toward the life and physical body of himself and his brothers and sisters. And indeed how can we not? How can we look with detachment at what our King and Friend looks at with utmost care, tender mercies, and even stringent discipline? As Christians filled with the knowledge of the holiness of God and His sovereign will to form us out of nothing for His glory, we must every day defend not only our life and the lives of others, but also the value of those lives. Simply put, if we are to continue claiming His name as ours, we are obligated to restore and maintain our appreciation for the SANCTITY of life - all lives designed by God and set apart for Him! Specifically, let us presently restore our appreciation for new life, which is every day threatened by the abortion movement across the globe.
Life does not begin outside the womb—or even inside the womb—but in the Mind of God.
We have evidence of this by the word which the Lord spoke to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart” (Jeremiah 1:4-5). Should it be any surprise to us that the God who knows the name and the number of every star in our universe should also know us even before our conception? But there is more in this verse than just God’s knowledge of us: to stop there is to stop at the comma! Go on: “…before you were born I set you apart.” Wow! Do not think that God has spoken this word only to Jeremiah, but know that this word applies to every child of the Father. Our Heavenly Father has not only known us before time began, but also has set us apart. Growing up I read this passage thinking, “Wow, God knows what I’m going to be when I grow up!” And while He truly does know the path my life will take, how much deeper does this word go than the childish contentment I once had with the passage. When God told Jeremiah that He had set him apart, He meant that He had separated Jeremiah unto Himself.
God had not only separated Jeremiah and now ourselves from the rest of the world to leave us there, but He separated us from the world and to Himself. What joy! What undeserved special treatment to be chosen by the Maker of the Universe, of which even the smartest of men can only speak “to the limits of their detection.” That separation unto our Creator is what we speak of when use the phrase the “sanctity of life.” Sanctity is the state of being holy, of being set apart for God and for His purposes. The sanctity of life is one of those phrases that we have bandied about so much that it has lost its original meaning. Today we say this phrase to speak of the value of human life. This is not to say that we are not defending the value of human life. No not at all! Indeed it is the very thing we are doing! However, we must remember that this value does not come in and of itself, but in being set apart to the Majestic King. Remember: we do not worship the temple, but the Living God who inhabits the sanctified temple.
Thus, the value of our lives and of life itself is founded upon the relationship we have with our Creator and the special place to which He has set us apart. Without this foundation upon the Solid Rock, there is no sanctity and thus a misplaced value or a lack of value of human life. The result is either an idolatrous worship of human life and mankind, manifesting itself in hedonism and the like, or else the equally abhorrent disregard for life which has mired men and women today in the bog of abortion, euthanasia, and other actions which either destroy or pollute the temple of our lives.
CURRENT SHOCKING CASE IN POINT? The case of Sycloria Williams, whose full story can be found here— http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,488644,00.html
—is a revolting illustration of the depravity to which men have sunk.
In short, Ms. Williams, pregnant at eighteen, was scheduled about a month ago to have an abortion, but gave birth when the “physician” arrived late for the procedure. What happened next exemplifies the innermost opinions of the “pro-choice” movement: the clinic owner took the child, cut the umbilical cord, put the 23 week old baby into a biohazard bag, and threw it out like a piece of trash. While this story has riled up many across the nation, what the numbed mass of men do not realize is that this is what happens every time an abortion is performed. The baby does not simply vanish. It does not revert back to the cells which formed it. Think about it! It must be scraped or torn out and tossed out like a piece of trash. What a cruel turn, to be set apart by the living God only to be tossed out like yesterday’s supper.
For those seeking responses to arguments put forth by abortionists, we recommend the National Right to Life’s website, whose link can be found on our home page. Otherwise, perhaps you can take away these fundamental truths:
1) Life begins at conception, or if you like—before—for God knew us before He made us. (Jeremiah 1:4)
2) Anything which ends life is murder, plain and simple. (Exodus 20:13)
3) There is hope for those who have had an abortion. The Bible says God “blots out transgressions…and washes away all iniquity.” (Psalm 51:1-2)
4) We have a charge to protect the defenseless where we are able. (Proverbs 24:11)
Finally: Do not forget that what we profess here is based in God’s Holy Word. My grandfather, a seasoned man of the Word of God, does not mind being challenged in what He declares by those who would check the scriptures. He would say: “Don’t trust me; look it up for yourself.” I submit the same to you, dear reader. We profess a right to life not based on the merit of life itself, but on God’s unfathomable will to set it apart to Himself. He alone has the right to impart worth unto human life, and the audacity of man’s evil heart is to wrench that right away.