The Overmastering Direction

"Paul was devoted to a Person, not to a cause" -- Oswald.

I'm not sure that this connection will be clear to anyone except me. Today is Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. I am strongly pro-life, and I would love to see an immediate end to abortion. I am committed to the pro-life/anti-abortion cause. I am disinclined, however, to argue with those of the pro-choice agenda. Other than dug-in heels and rising tempers, little seems to change in those arguments. What I am inclined to do is share the story of one teenage girl who chose life and the difference she made by that choice.

My son Drew was born to a 17-year-old senior in high school. She bore the embarrassment of a teenage pregnancy, saw her beautiful, lithe body stretched and changed by an additional 40 pounds, gave up dating and dancing in exchange for 17 plus hours of labor and childbirth. Drew will celebrate his 20th birthday on Valentine's Day because his birthmom chose life. No one who knows Drew would ever dream of arguing that his life should have been cut off before birth. One can argue against a cause, but it is difficult to argue against a 20-year-old man who has brightened the world by his existence in a myriad of ways.

Maybe this example is just on my mind because of the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, but I do think it illustrates the difference between a commitment to a cause and a commitment to a person.

The Christian life can degenerate into a cause -- a call to morality, a call to fight evil, a call to duty and prayer and Bible reading and ministering to the poor and homeless -- but that is not what God intended.

"It is not sufficient to know that God has redeemed the world, and to know that the Holy Spirit can make all that Jesus did effectual in me; I must have the basis of a personal relationship to Him" -- Oswald.

I will be devoted to the Person of Jesus Christ, the man who brought life and light to the world by his existence, his death and his resurrection.

From the Book of Common Prayer, a Collect for the Presence of Christ: "Lord Jesus, stay with us, for evening is at hand and the day is past; be our companion in the way, kindle our hearts, and awaken hope, that we may know thee as thou art revealed in Scripture and the breaking of bread. Grant this for the sake of thy love. Amen."