The Visible Gospel

I have heard a lot of talk about abortion recently (specifically in the faith-based community). It is, of course, a very prevalent issue for pro-lifers when it comes to electing a new (or re-electing a current) president.

Now the last thing I want to do (which I know I will) is spark outrage among readers. But I feel this needs to be talked about. I will, however, preface this by stating firmly that Clayton and I are 100% pro-life. This leads me to my question, though.

How can people say they are pro-life and yet show no (or little) support for adoption?

Last year (2011) there were over 1.2 million abortions performed in the United States alone. Some of you may be surprised by this, while to others this could be old news. Now, let's say that these women decided to give the child life, while knowing all along that they could not (or would not) care for it. 

Now let's look at the foster system. There are currently more than 500 thousand children in the US Foster system. 129,000 of them are legal orphans and waiting for a “forever” home. Now let's do the math: If there are already 129,000 children who are unable to find permanent homes, what would we do with 1.2 million more “unwanted” children?

So what happens to these children who remain “unwanted”? Approximately 20,000 children age 16 and older emancipate from the system every year. Nearly 40% of these youth will be homeless within 18 months of discharge. Girls who emancipate from foster care are 3x more likely than non-foster youth to have a child by age 19... Keep in mind those are just the girls who choose to have the child.

How can we so easily justify picketing abortion clinics, attending pro-life rallies, or willingly condemn our neighbor who is pro-choice, and yet so readily ignore the “unwanted” children who we already have even in our own communities?

It seems easy enough to mark the “right” box on the voting ballot, or to throw rotten tomatoes at Planned Parenthood events, but is that really where our responsibility lies? Even if you feel these things are important (which you may or may not), does it stop there?

How long will the Christian community refuse to share God's heart for orphans? How long can we get away with feeling “righteous” because we voted for a pro-life, Republican candidate? How long can we avoid our responsibility to the less fortunate by distracting ourselves with petty politics or excuses?

There are over 300,000 “Christian” churches in the United States. Let's say even half of them are true Bible-believing churches. That's 150,000 churches nationwide. This includes mega churches (tens of thousands of members). How is it even remotely possible that we still have 129,000 children awaiting families in our own country? Something must change.

Galatians 4:4-6 states: “But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, "Abba, Father." We were adopted into God's family. Is adoption not the most beautiful picture of redemption?

Isaiah 1:17 calls us to “Defend the cause of orphans.” How much longer can we neglect and ignore the 47 places in scripture where it talks about God's heart for orphans? How much longer can we refuse to live out the gospel in the most visible way? How much longer can we sit back with our American comforts and convince ourselves that we do “enough”?

I'll end with the following quote by Derek Loux. Derek spent most of his adult life at the forefront of adoption and orphan care. He and his wife adopted seven children and were in the process of creating a therapeutic home for thirty orphans when he was killed in a car crash in 2009. He wrote this about his extremely frustrating time in Ukraine in 2008 while adopting his three little boys (two of whom have Down Syndrome).

“On the drive home that night, the Lord whispered in my ear, “This is Redemption. Derek, do you know how far I traveled to get you and bring you back? I had to be separated from my Son in order to get you, just like you are separated from your children in order to get these boys. Do you know how expensive it was for Me to purchase you? It cost Me everything. Do you know how broken, sick, damaged, twisted, dirty, smelly, and hopeless you were? And at the end of it all, you had nothing to give Me or add to Me. I did it for you. I emptied myself and became nothing so that you could have it all. This is redemption.”