Sanctity of Human Life Month

Sanctity, n: Holiness; state of being sacred or holy. God attributes no sanctity to place. Milton.
2. Goodness; purity; godliness; as the sanctity of love; sanctity of manners. 3. Sacredness; solemnity; as the sanctity of an oath. (Webster, 1828)

 

As we continue in Sanctity of Human Life month, let us remember that every one of us is made in the image of God (Gen 1:26-27). Every human being bears it—the unborn child, the mother who just found out she’s pregnant and is scared, the elderly man on the street, and the young man on Wall Street. Those who look like us bear the image of God and those who don’t look like us bear the image of God. Same for those of a different economic class, race, or political persuasion.The list continues on and on.

There is a thread that weaves throughout all of today’s human rights movements, making them more alike than they may appear at first glance. Ending human trafficking, racial reconciliation, women’s rights, and the rights of the unborn—these issues matter because people matter. The image of God matters. How we are led to engage with them may vary greatly among the Body, but may we never close our eyes to injustice upon life.

“For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are Your works;
my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from You,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.”
(Psalm 139: 13–16 ESV)

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