This past Sunday was Right to Life Sunday. This is a hotly debated issue. It is also a theological issue, not just a political one. Often the rights for an abortion are argued through the lens of single percentage issues. Navigating the importance of life while also being gracious to those faced with the issue is challenging. Ultimately, abortion is a human rights issue. Is life precious or is it not?

First, life is inconvenient. It is disruptive. I’d argue there is no convenient time to have a baby. Child bearing alone is a challenging process. Given the fall of man there is a cycle of life: birth, growth, adulthood, decline and death. At the return of Jesus the cycle ends as his resurrection conquered death. At the start God told mankind to be fruitful and multiply, to fill the Earth. This process is highly disruptive, but it is a joy. We are all here because of it.

Second, life is a gift. It is to be treasured. The fall of mankind places the majority of humans in difficult if not out right tyrannical situations. What enrages many is how unrighteous people prosper while innocent ones do not. One of the disruptive forces that often change this dynamic is children. Children growing up in challenging situations grow to make a difference or continue the problem. Children inflame the passions and virtues of parents or are ignored. Ecclesiastes talks about how life is a gift. Psalms 139 talks about life as planned by God. We simply do not nor cannot know the outcome of life. We can know that it is a gift.

Third, Jesus gives life. This gift is grace. Abortion is murder, and Jesus died and rose again conquering ALL sin. for those of us passionate about the issue of life, we should act as Jesus does, showing compassion and grace for those in challenging circumstances. The greatest gift of life isn’t being born, it is being born again to a living hope. This new life changes things, and ultimately it is what increases the value of life. In Jesus we see how valuable life is because Jesus died for us.

Abortion is plainly murder and the cessation of life. We can argue the nuances of single percentage issues, but the larger issue is how much we value life. The cost of playing god is millions of lives. What is worst is it damages our own souls as well. There is no such thing as a convenient baby. Even Mary, the Mother of Jesus could attest to that. But, the profound gift of life isn’t to be ignored. The best gifts are often the unplanned ones. We don’t know the outcome of such gifts, but if rejected, the outcome is loss for us all. The theif comes to destroy. Jesus came that we might have life. The answer to the abortion issue is found in Jesus.