Real Talk #15: Babies, redemption , and love.

While walking on Pedestrian Walkway today, I saw a table set up. Nothing out of the ordinary. There are always tables for politicians and churches. I went a little closer. On the table were baby dolls, cut into pieces, ripped apart, with fake blood on them. As I listened to the people who were at the table talk (maybe I should say "yell"), I started getting so frustrated. They were each yelling out different things.

"You see these babies? This is what you are doing to your child if you have an abortion! Blood is everywhere on your soul!"
"God hates baby murderers!"
"God turns His back on you when you commit this sin!"

I was mad. I was about to scream. I was about to walk up to these people who called themselves Christians and give them a piece of my mind. But all I could do was...cry.

I watched college student after college student walk by, stare, roll their eyes, and keep going.


Now, listen. Don't get me wrong. I am very pro-life. But I could not believe the way that these people were sharing their beliefs. Screaming, anger, and more screaming.

They were coming in contact with broken and hurting college students, and all they did was scream.

When people are being "witnessed" to, I understand that they could walk away feeling angry or upset(rich young ruler). They could leave feeling heavy because they find the cost of following Christ to be too high. The Cross is offensive. I get that. I do. Anything Christian in our culture is controversial. People will get mad. But. They should never leave upset because of the way I spoke to them. My words are to be filled with GRACE.

(((But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect. 1 Peter 3:15.)))

People should leave with Hope. They should leave with strength. They should leave with Joy. They should leave feeling loved and cared for. They should leave feeling that they saw Jesus in our eyes.

You can tell people that something is wrong without screaming in their faces. I promise.

What if these protesters would have loved those that they came in contact with today? What if they would have come with a message of Hope, forgiveness, and strength? What if they would have smiled when people walked by? What if they would have shared redemption? What if they would have shared the beauty of adoption? What if they would have come broken for people who have no hope rather than with a message of hate? What if they would have left the screaming at home and put on a coat of grace instead? What if they would have spoken words of life rather than death? What if they would have stood for what is right with love?

I feel like people would listen to Christians standing on the side of pro-life if we lived what we talk about. If we say to women that every life is valuable, then we need to act like it. When we drive beside a homeless man, we need to look at him the same way that we look at our friends. We know that there are millions of children starving physically, emotionally and spiritually...So, we need to do something about it. We say that all humans have equal value, so we need to help stop little girls from being sold into slavery. We tell women that their children could impact the world one day, so we need to impact the world today... We tell them that we stand on the side of "life," so our words need to give life. We tell them that they could put their babies up for adoption, so we need to adopt.
Why should they believe anything we say if we don't live it?

The thing is, there are sweet babies' precious lives on the line, and there are women's souls on the line.

Number of abortions per year: Approximately 42 Million.
Number of abortions per day: Approximately 115,000.

Crazy, right?

I want a woman to believe me when I say that I believe her baby's life is precious and beautiful... I want her to believe me because I treat everyone like their lives are beautiful and precious. I want them to see me value all people's lives. I want them to believe that the bride of Christ WILL value each child's life. I want them to believe me when I say that God passionately LOVES her child...and He passionately LOVES her, too.

Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 1 John 3:18.

LOVE. LOVE. LOVE.