The Sanctity of YOUR Life

I’m not always grateful to be alive. Sometimes the last thing I want is to be me. I just want to not be. That’s what depression does. It blinds us to our value. We feel worthless.

But life is precious. Each has value. And each has a purpose.

We can’t be truly healthy if we don’t accept God’s perspective on life. Click To Tweet

On January 17 we celebrated Sanctity of Human Life Sunday 2016 at our church.

Is the sanctity of human life a mental health issue?

It’s a moral issue.

For many it’s a religious issue.

But what does being pro-life or pro-choice have to do with mental health?

For starters, everything has to do with mental health.

Our beliefs. Our actions. Our thoughts. Our emotions. They influence each other. They are never independent of each other. How they work together is a large part of how healthy we are.

We can’t be truly healthy if we don’t accept God’s perspective on life.

Life itself is precious to God. Human life is unique. No other creature was made in His image. It was with man and woman He walked and talked. It wasn’t even for angels Jesus died.

Agreeing with God

We don’t like being told we’re wrong. Coming to agreement with God that we are sinners in need of grace is usually a struggle. But we need to agree with God. In everything.

Choices have natural consequences. Beliefs have logical conclusions. Even if we don’t recognize them.

Choices have natural consequences. Beliefs have logical conclusions. Click To Tweet

As a society, we believe life is about us. But we’re wrong. Life is about God. He created it. He gives it. He guides it. Loves it. Reaches out to it, and into it. Only He is wise enough to decide when it should end.

Because I believe God created life, and that He made humans different from anything else he created (Genesis 1:26-17), I must believe that human life is special and uniquely related to Him.

Imago Dei, the image of God. I can’t fully understand it, but I believe it.

The logical conclusion, whether I accept it or not, is that the sanctity of human life includes me. My life is sacred.

Is it difficult for you to accept that truth about your life, too? Can you take the pro-life foundation of the sanctity of human life and boldly include your life? Do you believe your life is more valuable than you can imagine?

The Sanctity of Human Life... includes YOURS. Click To Tweet

From conception…

No life is an accident. Click To Tweet

As Christians, it’s reasonable for us to accept that babies not yet born are fully human. And if they are human, their life is sacred.

No life is an accident. It may have been conceived as the result of a mistake, but God has a purpose for that life that fits in His plan. From an earthly perspective, a pregnancy can be unplanned, but God knew that life before the earth and time were established.

They have no voice; we must speak for them.

As we learn more about God and His expectations of us as His followers, we learn that we must speak for the voiceless and defend the weak (Psalm 82:3); we must love others, putting their needs above our comfort (Luke 10:25-37); we must serve others (1 Peter 4:10); we must even love our enemies (Matthew 5:43-48).

Too often these commands, even to love my enemies, make more sense to me than accepting that the immense value of human life doesn’t end where I begin.

Choose Truth; Choose Life

My feeling worthless doesn’t change the reality of my value and purpose. I believe that God created mankind in His image, and that we are uniquely designed to have fellowship with Him; which means I bear His image and can have a personal relationship with Him. I believe God has a plan that spans history (Galatians 4:4-7) and that He places each of us in the world exactly when we need to be (Esther 4:14), which means I have a purpose in this time and place.

I must choose to agree with God on this. I must believe that I have worth and a purpose, even when I can’t believe. In the times I can’t believe, my choice to believe shines a little light in the darkness.

That’s one of the amazing things I’ve learned through descents into the pit. My faith grows each time I survive. And when darkness falls, even though I think I can no longer see light, it shines a little brighter. I don’t need to be able to see the light to begin to see by it.