The Works of God

Frequently, when I write on a subject like embryonic stem cell treatment, a person will comment that if I were in that same situation I would also choose to use whatever treatments were available, including embryonic stem cells.  I’ll admit the temptations would be strong, very strong.

I’ll let one of my dear sisters in the faith respond:

I will not trade my son’s future eternal weight of glory for this vapor’s breath bowl of stew.

That needs to be read a couple of times.

She is referring to two sets of scripture:

Eternity, and all the pleasure that will come with being with Jesus, are vastly superior to anything this world has to offer.  And this mom is one of those women Pastor John refers to as having steel in her spine.  She and her husband have had to make decisions about their child’s health and future that are simply incredible, far beyond what all but a few parents will ever have to experience.

And she won’t choose killing tiny people to benefit her son, because there is glory that is coming and her God loves those tiny people and he has planted in her heart a deep regard for those tiny people.

Or this dad, who has already gone through deep waters with his son and may be entering even deeper waters:

I have this peaceful feeling about the situation; not necessarily because I think “everything is going to turn out okay” but because whether the issue turns out to be relatively minor or potentially significant, God is big and He is in charge and He is good.

I wept when I read that, for the pain his family is experiencing but equally so with joy in his confidence in his God.  My faith was strengthened as I read this brother’s email.  As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.

The statement that ‘you would choose differently if you were in that situation’ is one of the reasons why this blog exists.  I want more people to be prepared when the hard thing comes, either for themselves, their family, their neighbor or their church.  There are real, foundational principles upon which we can stand and not be moved.  We need to know what they are.

Actually, better yet, we need to know who they are anchored in:  Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

After my oldest son was born I rejected all that is good and completely turned away from God and his people.  I was not prepared to live in the reality of God’s awesome sovereignty over all things, including hard things.  If I didn’t define it as good, it wasn’t good.

God broke me of that pride and replaced my bitterness and anger with a much softer heart that longs to be in relationship with Jesus.  I am a wretched sinner, but I love Jesus and understand more clearly (though not completely) what his horrific, painful death bought for me.  God gave me that heart as well.

And God helps me with the hard questions and through brothers and sisters who are willing to walk in faith with me that God will provide.  Today I can answer the question of what I would do with confidence – no, I would not choose even a life-saving treatment for myself or for my disabled son if it involved the destruction of tiny human beings.  Yes, I would be tempted, even beyond my ability to see clearly.  And God would help me.

I invite you to know this Jesus like that, for his glory and for your eternal joy.

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I like to live with the thought that my grandparent’s generation was better than mine – more noble, less sinful than this present age.  I think there is evidence that was the case.

But there is also evidence that they shared some of this culture’s evil intentions toward those with disabilities, like this finding from a study done in the 1930’s:

A majority (54%) also favored the most radical eugenic measures, government supervision of “mercy deaths” for “hopeless invalids.”  Public Opinion Quarterly, vol 2., July 1938, pp. 390-91 as quoted in Three Generations, No Imbeciles by Paul Lombardo, p. 221.

We must stand for those the culture would destroy today, and teach our children to do so after we are gone.  Not in their own strength, but in the knowledge of and hope in who God is:

He established a testimony in Jacob
and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our fathers
to teach to their children,
that the next generation might know them,
the children yet unborn,
and arise and tell them to their children,
so that they should set their hope in God
and not forget the works of God,
but keep his commandments;
and that they should not be like their fathers,
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation whose heart was not steadfast,
whose spirit was not faithful to God.

Psalm 78:5-8

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In the pile of papers I referenced yesterday were some old test scores.  Since Paul attends public schools, they assess his educational progress as mandated by various federal and state bodies.

The things they want to measure, he can’t do.  His scores on reading, reading comprehension, math, math concepts and the like were as low as you can score and still be breathing.

The things they can’t measure – like his inherent, God-created dignity as a human being – he excels at.

I used to cry when those came in the mail every year.  They still make me sad, not because of how severely disabled they ‘objectively’ show him to be, but because this is the cultural measure of his worth.

And therein lies a danger to children with disabilities not yet born.  These are the objective measures of ‘reality’ that doctors and social workers and university professors understand – and which are communicated to parents who live in and breathe the air of this culture.  The decision to do away with such seemingly worthless human beings then appears to be obvious.

No, let us talk about what is truly real.  God creates some to live with disabilities (Exodus 4:11), he knows all their days (Psalm 139:13-16), he will supply every need (Philippians 4:19), and he knows the end from the beginning (Revelation 21:5-7).

It is entirely speculation on my part, but I believe that my Paul will someday hear these words from Jesus himself:

Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.

And for another look at what’s going on inside the womb, the folks at Abort73.com have released another video – The Case Against Abortion: Prenatal Development.

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