What God requires of you, part 2

If you, as a Christian, believe certain things are true, just and right, then you have a moral obligation to speak up. You had better speak up. If you do not, your voice will never even have the chance to rise above the clamor of all the others who are speaking. What are we to do? How are we to impact our society? How are we to propagate our views of truth and righteousness? Our text gives us three keys to doing this.

“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8)

The first requirement God has for us is to do justice. As believers, we are to stand on the side of justice. We must stand for what is right and just. Where we see injustice, we must let our voice be heard. Part of being salt and light is to stand for justice. And in the Christian ethic we find a true basis for truth and justice. If we do not want our society to quit dispensing justice then we must not allow them to easily dispense with truth.

There is a good reason why we are to defend the innocent and weak. It is because we live in a time of devalued human life. Although man was told to have dominion over everything, almost everything today has dominion over man. In fact, human life seems to be valued far less than any other kind of life. Human life is important. Whether we are talking about the unborn, born, or aged, we should be more concerned for human life than we are for snail-darters. Atrocities are happening all over the world. We are right to cry out for justice and to do something for more than political considerations. But while we cry out for justice in these cases, we must also not neglect to cry out against the killing of unborn babies for convenience. Since Roe vs. Wade, over 25 million babies have been aborted in America. There is something wrong with a society that closes its eyes to this injustice. But for convenience, selfishness, and profit, millions of babies are killed every year.

It is clear to any thinking person that we are talking about human life. It is certainly alive. And it is certainly human. The fact that it cannot live outside its dependence on its mother is little different than the fact that a newly born baby cannot live without depending on its mother. An unborn baby should be no more the property of its mother than a pre-Civil War slave should have been the property of his or her master. The Dred Scott Supreme Court decision of 1857 declaring that slaves were the mere property of their masters was patently wrong. I personally believe that the Roe vs. Wade decision is equally in error. History will certainly bear this out. We are called not only to do justice, but also to love kindness. We need to stand on the side of the oppressed, the poor, and the needy. Those who are hurting need our kindness, not our judgment. This especially applies to those who cannot help themselves. We should be on the side of the helpless because God is on their side. And it seems to me that there is no one more helpless than an unborn baby. Even though we live in an age that exalts “the survival of the fittest,” we must live by a higher law – the dignity of all human life. A logical result of our loving kindness should be the providing of alternatives and care. Those who have crisis pregnancies have great needs, and we must be there to help. We must provide help and counseling, housing, doctor’s bills, and adoption to show the love of Jesus to those who are hurting and looking for an alternative to abortion.

Pastor Krouse can be reached at sskrouse@succeed.net or 696-0563 or 701-6668.