Many of you may know that January is Sanctity of Life month. This past Sunday, many churches celebrated this theme and looked to Scripture to be reminded of that life is God-given, inherently valuable, and worth our protection. If you were with us last night, we talked about how understanding the fact that God sovereignly and creatively gives life should shape our approach to many social issues. But more than just thinking about the sanctity of life, it is important that we do something, as the hands and feet of Christ, to protect life. So we closed the night thinking about some specific ways to be do something and organizations with which to get involved. If you weren’t here or if you forgot some of the organizations we talked about, I want to provide you with the list again. There are also a few additional ideas below. I encourage you to do at least one thing this week, either from the list below or your own idea, to celebrate and protect the value of life.
ABORTION – Send out a Facebook message, text, or email to all of your friends referring them to www.abort73.com. Abort 73 is organization committed first to awareness and education about abortion before trying to pass legislation. If more and more people become educated about the atrocity of abortion, legislation will naturally change. They also have a ton of stylish t-shirts, posters, bumper stickers, and pens to help you spread the word about the site.
DIVERSITY – Use the web to study another culture and maybe even get to know someone of a different ethnicity than you. A challenging resource available right now is a new book by John Piper, Bloodlines. In this book, Dr. Piper explains how the Gospel of Jesus Christ leads us to cross cultural boundaries. Check it out on Amazon here.
HOMOSEXUALITY - It’s very important that we always start with getting to know people, loving them and sharing the Gospel with them instead of trying to change their behavior. It’s God’s grace that changes people, not us. If you know of anyone struggling with same-sex attraction, let them know you are here for them and would love to pray with them and maybe even share the Exodus International website with them.
HUMAN SLAVERY – Right now, there are 27 million human slaves in the world. This includes men, women, and children in both sex trafficking and slave labor. An immediate change you can make is in what you purchase. Many of the common items we use everyday are produces by slave labor, even some of the clothes we wear. Check out this site where you can see how many slaves it took to produce the items you use – www.slaveryfootprint.org. Some companies are now publishing whether or not their items are produces by slave labor. Before you buy your next latte, t-shirt, or pair of jeans, ask the company how the item was produced.
You can also visit one of these sites to educate yourself on human slavery and consider donating and sharing the site with your friends to raise awareness:
www.tinyhandsinternational.org
POVERTY – Visit www.one.org to educate yourself on global poverty and consider visiting www.compassion.com and sponsoring a child.
These are just a few ways that you can do something. If you have other ideas, I’d love to hear them.
