For Grace and Peace for Mothers Troubled by Abortion
Lord of Life, The privilege of pregnancy and the elation of embracing the child you just gave birth to are special experiences unique to mothers. Sadly, Lord, for reasons that range from deep trauma to mere inconvenience, many mothers have ended their child’s life by choosing to have an abortion. While we mourn the loss of the unborn, we pray also for mothers who have made this burdensome decision. Where mothers have hardly given the slightest thought to the life they ended, nor shown any remorse for their actions, work godly repentance in them that ultimately elevates their regard for your gift of life and eventually brings them to you. For all mothers who have had an abortion and are still carrying guilt, shame, and regret because of it, overwhelm them with your gracious gift of forgiveness and tender love for them. Protect them from the judgment and condemnation of others. Grant them complete healing and wholeness in you, and let them find welcome and support in the arms of the church.
Loving Father, The subject of abortion serves as a tragic reminder that this dying world is a far cry from the deathless creation you first brought into existence by the breath of your life. No matter the rationale behind it, anytime an abortion takes place, a child never receives the opportunity to take that first breath, and because of that, we grieve. We plead for your protection on behalf of babies in the womb who are unable to defend themselves. Surround those considering abortion with caring and compassionate counsel from others who want what is best for mother and child according to your Word. Lead expecting mothers to treasure your gift of life and grant them the fortitude to make sacrifices for the benefit of their unborn child. Compel fathers to be present and responsible, and use them to speak as a voice in favor of life. Spare those in the womb, Lord, and thwart the plans of all who promote the option of putting the unborn to death.
So is being the one in the position of having to even consider having such a procedure carried out on her own body, as well as the tiny body given life in her womb. My heart goes out to every expectant mother ever having to wrestle with such a gut-wrenching decision when two lives are at stake.
In this era of “toxic masculinity,” however, I will refrain from telling women what they should do with “their own bodies” (the ones which in reality belong to the gracious God who formed and redeemed them…). Instead, let me steer the conversation in a little different direction and focus on what too often has been too little a part of the discussion: Me.
Men.
After all, lest we forgot how the whole process works and how children are conceived in the first place – men, I think we have a role to play here. Think about that. Men, if we played our part the way we ought to, instead of treating women like scorecards and God’s gift of sex like an itch to scratch, it’s not likely we’d be where we are today, giving so much attention to such an atrocity as abortion. In case I’m not being clear enough, let me put it bluntly: we’re a REALLY big part of the problem. We’ve failed to live up to our noble role of husband-to-wife, head-to-helper, simply because we cannot control ourselves enough to reserve our passions for one woman for life. We’ve allowed the blessing of marriage to become marginalized. We’ve debased, devalued, and degraded sex by tearing it away from the marriage boundary for the purpose of self-gratification, instead of protecting it as the most selfless expression of love by which a spouse is served.
But, there is hope, for what we have been in the past does not need to be who we are today or who we will be in the future.
“Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor… adulterers… will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”
(1 Corinthians 6:9–11 NIV)
“Washed.” “Sanctified.” “Justified.” Men, those are powerful realities in Jesus! They are the kind of realities that change a man! They are the kind of realities that free men from being tied to the world’s cluelessly distorted definition of manhood and marriage. They are the kind of realities that free men to embrace and strive for their God-designed role in marriage to sacrificially “love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Eph. 5:25).
Tell me our society wouldn’t be better for it if every man would “leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh” (Eph. 5:31). Tell me marriages wouldn’t be better for it if they actually lasted “till death do us part” and husbands committed to strengthening their oneness bond with their wife. Tell me women wouldn’t be better for it if they had the security of a committed husband in their marriage. Tell me children wouldn’t be better for it with committed husbands doubling as dedicated E64 fathers to serve as loving, protective superheroes for their kids.
Tell me unborn children wouldn’t be better off if the only thing we ever aborted… was any discussion of abortion in the first place.
Men, we have more power to actually make that a reality than we realize. Let’s do more to own up to our role in this matter and realize that we need to be a bigger part of the conversation. Unborn lives depend on it.
