Rise Up, O Church of God - Part 1

The Church in a nation has a tremendous opportunity to influence whether that nation will know God’s blessing as we are told in 2 Chronicles 7:14:

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Thus, if we look around us and see that our nation is in a moral slide, then as the Church of Jesus Christ, we must fall on our faces before the Lord and turn from our wicked ways. It is the responsibility of the Church to cry out to the Lord for the healing of our land. O, how this is needed in the United States of America today!

Let us look where the Christian Church in the land of the free and the home of the brave has fallen short and is in need of repentance before the Lord. As we shall discover, these compromises within the church have rather sobering parallels within the American culture. However, the situation is not without hope as there are very practical solutions offered by God’s Holy Word to reclaiming dominion in our society for His honor and glory.

First, while much of the Church has been properly outraged at the sin of abortion, it has not shown a love for new life in heralding children as a gift from God. In general, the Church views children in a very similar manner to the world—namely, as a burden and not as a blessing. There are many in the Church that look upon children as being too expensive both financially and emotionally. This attitude shows up in both words (via comments such as, “We are DONE having children” or “We can’t afford to have another child”) and actions (including medically invasive procedures to ensure that the child-bearing years are stopped short). O, how it must grieve the heart of our Lord to see and hear His people fighting to prevent one of His greatest treasures from entering into this world.

Many within the Church consider themselves pro-life since they have a belief that life begins at conception and they have a great repulsion over terminating a life within the womb. Holding to these convictions is very noble and right and are certainly necessary to claim a pro-life position—but are they sufficient? Is a desire to see the children that are conceived to be given the opportunity to enter into this world all that is required to be a pro-life advocate? Or is there more to being pro-life than simply being anti-abortion?

God’s Holy Word provides the answer:

Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate. (Psalm 127:3-5, KJV)

Consequently, our attitude towards children should be one of viewing them as a heritage from the Lord! We should see children as a great blessing and an asset in helping fight the battle against the Satan and the forces of darkness. We show a love for life by praying for God to bless us with more children and encouraging others within the body of Christ that children are indeed a great gift from the hand of the Lord. If this nation is to have a proper perspective on the future generations yet to be born, the Church must repent of its worldly mindset toward the heritage of the Lord and must proclaim the Biblical truth that children are one of the greatest earthly treasures from Almighty God! If the Church will rise up with respect to the love for life, then, perhaps, God will rid our nation of the horror of taking the lives of the innocent unborn.

~David