CrossTalk: Forty Days of Life

Last Sunday, November 3rd, concluded the latest observance of “40 Days for Life.” Since September 25, people around the world have prayed and fasted for life. Today I want to highlight their message of faith, hope and love.

Consider what they did. They fasted for life. While, at first, this may seem a contradiction, it is anything but. Fasting seems to deny the necessities of life from the body. But the opposite is true. By fasting, we are confessing that the true necessities of life are not found in food and clothing, material and emotional support. Rather, the truest and most certain support of human life comes directly from God through His word. As Jesus, our Life, said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word proceeding from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).

While fasting, they also prayed for life. To pray for life is to ask God to give and preserve life. That's quite a mouthful. It acknowledges both that life is from God and that it is desirable.

Oftentimes in our world of technological advances we forget that life is from God. We marvel at all modern science can do. In agriculture, we have hybrids, insecticides, and genetic engineering. In medicine, we have genome mapping, open heart surgery, and even in utero surgery.

But it only takes a moment of reflection to notice that none of these technologies create life. They tinker with what God alone can create. As I pen these words on Halloween, I am reminded that Dr. Frankenstein's creation remains pure fantasy. No man ever re-animated the dead, much less have they ever – or will they ever – create life from scratch. This sobering reality alone ought to drive us to careful reflection. How dare we destroy what we are incapable of creating. 

When we reflect upon life, we learn that God loves life. We see it all around us. From the microbes that live on your counter-top to the fish that swim in the ocean, this world is teeming with life. While some might see all this abundance of life and conclude that life is cheap; faith concludes the opposite. Faith concludes from the sheer abundance of life that God must really, really love life.

That's why we pray. We pray not only because apart from God we would have no life, but we pray because we know that God Himself wants life and wants to answer our prayer. This is especially true of human life.

No other species has been so honored and so blessed as human life. When God came to His creation, He “was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary and became man” (Nicene Creed). His salvation of the world reflects the fact that man, and man alone, was created in the image and likeness of God. What an incredible creed this is!

God considers every human life -- God considers your life -- so precious that He Himself became a man in the person of Jesus. No matter what has happened to you, no matter what challenges you are dealing with in your life, nothing can change that fact. No matter how you were conceived, your life and the life of every conceived person is a gift of God and desired by God Himself. And no matter what sins you may have done, no matter how terribly you have failed to rejoice in God's gift of life, God has become a human being in order to forgive and save your life, both now and in eternity.

We just celebrated 40 Days for Life by prayer and fasting. But God celebrates every day of life by answering your prayers and satisfying your deepest hunger. “This is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life” (1 John 5:12).