I am the abortionist…

I recently saw the movie Unplanned, a testimonial of Abby Johnson about the evils of abortion and her time with Planned Parenthood. While I found the movie disturbing in so many ways and difficult to watch in several scenes, I think it is helpful on a number of levels. I have spent many days now trying to sort and organize my thoughts on the movie. It struck deeply in a number of areas and awakened many thoughts in my heart. Of course, I could write for days on all of the lessons, but I have been impressed for several days to zero in on one thought: I am the abortionist.

It is easy in the Christian sub-culture to form and us/them mindset. Those people…out there…in the culture…they need saving! While that’s not untrue…it is incomplete. We can, at times, forget that THEY are US. Stick with me for a few short statements…then let me draw a conclusion or two.

• The abortionist is no more lost or evil than any other unforgiven sinner.
• We were all, at one time, unforgiven sinners.
• Some, in fact many of our neighbors, friends, family members, and people in our community are still unforgiven sinners.
• Abby Johnson is a great picture of God’s grace.
• The actions of the Christians portrayed “at the fence” should be instructive for each of us.

I think, as believers, we can lose touch with who we were before Christ saved us. We can forget that we could not save ourselves. We did not clean ourselves up and present ourselves to God. He picked us up and covered our sin. We added nothing to God’s salvation work. We simply responded to His invitation and took His hand.

The fact that we can create an us/them dichotomy in our minds is evidence of those parts of our nature that still require God’s sanctifying touch. After all, we were all THEM to Christ.

It is high time that we learn to “love at the fence.” We must, if we are to be faithful to God in worshipful obedience, stop looking at people as “them” and invite them to walk with us toward Him. We are no better than the most accomplished of all blasphemers…or the one who takes innocent lives. The only thing that separates US from THEM is the shed blood of God’s perfect Son who came…that THEY could become WE.

I am the abortionist…saved by God’s substitutionary sacrifice and called to live under His grace…as a bond-servant on mission. Completely free…yet indebted to my neighbors who are in active rebellion against a magnificent and glorious God!

If God can save Abby Johnson…if God can save me…then I must love at the fence, build bridges in humility before God and my neighbors and lead my neighbors to a “fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel’s veins.” Because, “sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.”

(P.S. If you have not seen this movie or want to view a trailer on it, there is one at THIS LINK.)