Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Addicted to Death

October 19, 2015

The children of Israel had conquered the Promised Land. It was tempting then as it is now, to think that the hard work was done, and they could settle down and take it easy. Joshua reviewed the Law with them and concluded, "I have set before you the way of life and the way of death. Therefore, choose life." Of course, those last two words have become the watchwords of the Anti-abortion movement, and with good reason. Our world has a strange fascination with and a macabre addiction to death. In our country, since 1973, over fifty million babies have been murdered through legal abortion. Many of our cities are overrun by gangs that kill with abandon, and we are seeing movements such as ISIS embracing death wholesale. Our movies are so filled with violence and murder that it ceases to shock us. Suicide is welcomed by thousands as a way to end the misery and hopelessness they feel.

I'd have to take off my shoes and socks to even begin to add up the people I know whose depression has caused them to consider ending their lives, and I'd have to do it all over again to count the ones I know who have attempted or succeeded with it. Hardly a family is untouched by this spectre. As we approach the last half of October, our theaters and TVs will be filled with gruesome images of increasingly graphic violence in a perverse celebration of death in Halloween. Against that backdrop we have Jesus who said, "the enemy comes to rob, kill, and destroy. I have come that you might have life, and have it more abundantly."

For most of my adult life, I fought mild melancholy, and yet I cannot fathom misery so profound that I would consider ending my life. I am grateful tonight for Christ who has given me life, and for those who against the cultural tide of death are standing tall for life. I am grateful for those counselors and cops who regularly talk people back from the edge, and for the hope that is given us in Jesus. And I am grateful for those who have the courage to fight back and refuse to give in to the enemy's lies. Tonight, such a victory was won, and I go to sleep thankful that a life was saved and the future remains for one who came to the edge only to take the hand of Christ when it was extended. "Choose Life," indeed!

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