"Sanctity of Life "

August 26, 2007


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Now the word of the LORD came to me saying, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations." Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy." But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a boy'; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you, Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the LORD." Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the LORD said to me, "Now I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant." Jeremiah 1:4-10 NRSV


A man was taking it easy, lying on the grass and looking up at the clouds. He was identifying shapes when he decided to talk to God. "God", he said, "how long is a million years?"
God answered, "In my frame of reference, it's about a minute."
The man asked, "God, how much is a million dollars?"
God answered, "To Me, it's a penny."
The man then asked, "God, can I have a penny?"
God said, "In a minute."

The Bible says that a thousand years is like a day and a day like a thousand years to God. It is hard to understand the length of time of eternity. We are so subject to time in this life. We are very linear, very finite. But God, the creator of time, is not bound by time. God exists outside of time and in time and around time. God is time.

As the creator of time, I think that God stands in front of time and sees all things - all life spans - all life - all eternity - eternity past, present and future. As such, God knows us even before we are born: “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.” It is undeniable that from this passage, life is a very precious, sacred thing; more on this in a moment.

Before Jeremiah was even born, God consecrated him. The word “consecrate” means to set aside or reserve for a godly task. God set Jeremiah aside for an important task before birth. That task would lead him to be a prophet to the nations. Jeremiah was not convinced about all this right a way. He responded with three deadly words - “I am only.” In his case, he said, “I am only a child.” His excuse was that he was too young.

The excuses are many, are they not, in the Bible and in us: too young, too old, too sick, too tired, too sick and tired, too busy. We hear the “I am only” all the time: “I am only 12,” “I am only a woman,” “I am only a senior,” “I am only a person with a disability.”

God did something that Jeremiah would draw upon again and again. God touched Jeremiah's mouth - changing his words. From that point on, he would speak different words - words of possibility - words of hope - words of consecration - words of purpose - words of belonging…God's words. I think from then Jeremiah said, “I am.” I am able - I am God's boy - I am a prophet of the Lord. Once we know whose we are, we know who we are!

By the way, every child in this world - male or female - black or white - yellow or brown - should grow up believing two things - they are loved and they are capable! Let's get rid of the “I am onlys”. You and I can be anything God calls us to be. And God is calling every one of us just has he called Jeremiah! And, like Jeremiah, God will always be with us. This is welcome news. God did not call Jeremiah to easy street or even to success. He called him to be obedient and to be a prophet. He suffered greatly for it. One commentator mentioned that of all the Old Testament figures, Jeremiah had the most enemies.

Let's go back to BC - not Before Christ but Before Conception. Remember, God said, I formed you in the womb. It is God who has given the gift of procreation. God is the creator, and God still creates through birth - God gave us the privilege of partnership in creating. Incredible! We must not reduce procreation to a purely physical act or only a human act. It is a god-given sacred act. As such, it is very precious, and it must cause us to rethink our culture's acceptance of the termination of life.

Speaking of life, Chuck Swindoll, who I have mentioned is one of my favorite preachers and writers, makes the following assertion in his work, Sanctity of Life:

Medical authorities determine a person to be “alive” if there is either a detectable heartbeat or brain-wave activity. With that in mind, it is eye-opening for some to realize that unborn children have detectable heartbeats at eighteen days (two and one-half weeks) after conception and detectable brain-wave activity forty days (a little over five and one-half weeks) after conception. What is so shocking is that essentially 100 percent of all abortions occur after the seventh week of pregnancy. (Sanctity of Life, C. Swindoll, Word, 1990, pp. 11-12)

Life is precious to God; life is what we are talking about here. And I think we must take very seriously our partnership in creation, particularly knowing that God has a purpose for a person even BC - before conception. “Before you were born, I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations,” says God to Jeremiah.

I believe that every person is born with a God given purpose - even if that life is short. We must think seriously about this, particularly because we have free will and can interrupt or pre-empt a life by our decisions.

This may lead some to regret, remorse, or even anger at the mention of this. But let me say this. God offers freedom from decisions that haunt, from the pain of the past. Now can be a moment of release and renewal.

A much loved-minister of God once carried a secret burden of long- past sin deep in his heart. He had committed the sin many years before, during his Bible school training. No one knew what he had done, but they did know he had repented. Even so, he had suffered years of remorse over the incident without any sense of God's forgiveness.

A woman in his church deeply loved God and claimed to have visions in which Jesus Christ spoke to her. The minister, skeptical of her claims, asked her, "The next time you speak to the Lord, would you please ask Him what sin your minister committed while he was in Bible school." The woman kindly agreed.

When she came to the church a few days later the minister asked, "Did He visit you?"
She said, "Yes."
"And did you ask Him what sin I committed?"
"Yes, I asked Him," she replied
"Well, what did He say?"
"He said, 'I don't remember.'"

Remember three things:

God forgives.
Life is precious.
We need to change from “I am only” to “I am.”

Brian

Rev. Brian Seders

You may contact Rev. Seders at (304) 624-7951 or send an e-mail to: blseders@gmail.com