How Do You live Out a Sanctity Ethic?

January 13, 2012

This month marks my eighth anniversary of working at Focus on the Family. It’s easy to remember because I came to work during one of the busiest seasons for those of us in the bioethics area since January is Sanctity of Human Life month.

At this time each year, I find myself thinking about the significance of a month dedicated to recognizing the value of human life. In many ways, our world is a dismal place in that regard. Abortion in the United States has caused 49 million babies to have never been born. Sex trafficking continues to be a national and global problem, with more than 100,000 kids here in the U.S. (some estimates being upwards of 300,000) and more than a million worldwide being sold into sexual slavery each year. Genocide continues to take countless lives in some war-torn areas around the world. And religious persecution is rampant in many countries as well.

Now that I’ve thoroughly depressed myself – and probably you – about the state of our world, I’d like to challenge you with something practical that may seem mundane. One of the things that has stuck with me is the first time I heard my boss talk about the sanctity of human life. It went something like this: You are made in the image of God, and you are walking, talking and living amongst other image-bearers of God. Is that how you look at those around you?

I instantly began thinking about the way I interact with people in my day-to-day life. How do I treat the person at the convenience store? How about those on the road around me? (Let’s be honest, I’m an incredibly impatient driver, so if you’re not driving at a speed I think is acceptable, there will probably be some swerving, some yelling and some near-expletives.) What about that co-worker who consistently gets under my skin? If I begin to think of all these people as uniquely and beautifully created to bear a distinct part of God’s character, I have to change the way I interact with them. Patience, kindness and grace will begin to characterize my interactions.

So that’s my challenge for you: What situations do you find yourself in that require a more God-ward view of humanity? What are you doing to actively treat others as God’s image-bearers? If you’re anything like me, those questions will begin to convict you and (hopefully) change your actions toward people in your life (i.e., everyone) whom God loves.

  • Carol

    This is so convicting for me.  I’ve been dealing with a very “difficult” teacher at my son’s school.  I am going to pray for God to help me think of this teacher differently, as an “image-bearer” of God.  Thanks for the article.

    • Albert Nygren

      What a good insight! Jesus said we are to pray for our enemies. I found a prayer that has helped me very much in this respect, it is, “LORD, please help my brother (or sister) and forgive me a sinner for the sake of that brother’s or sisters prayers. I may have to repeat that prayer several times to remember on an experiential basis, That I am a sinner and no better than anyone else. Then I can forgive the other person.

      But I can’t forgive the other person if they are treating me in an unfair way. I must confront them on that and if they don’t change, don’t associate with them anymore. Jesus said in Matthew 18″16,17,and 18. that, “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault. just between the 2 of you. If he listens to you you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen to you, take 1 or 2 brothers along, so that every matter may be established by the testimony of 2 0r 3 witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church, and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or tax collector.

      Just as an aside, I was sitting next to a friend once and I wanted to explain something to her that she might not like. I asked God to help me with this, and immediately after I prayed, my friend asked me, “Al, what do you think I should do about this? God is so awesome! God bless you dear Christian sister.

  • Dgwhitty

    What a more peaceful and safe world ours would be if we all believed (and acted accordingly) that every human being we come into contact with were equally loved by God as He loves our own selves.  The Lord calls us to love others (unborn and born) as we would love ourselves.  May your words challenge each of us to start with our own selves by honoring others’ dignity and value in our thoughts, words, and actions.  One life at a time our world will change for the better.

  • Alnrn78

    When asked what is the greatest Commandment, He quoted Deuteronomy 5:4-5 which says,”Hear O Israel. Yahweh our God, Yahweh one, thou shall love (agape)Yahweh thy God with thy heart and with all of your soul and all of your strength.” And then Jesus said that “like unto that is to agape your brother as your self.”

    Agape is not some warm fuzzy feeling in your chest that you interpret as love. Agape is a decision to always treat someone in a way that is in their best interest, even if you have to experience some self sacrifice; and that decision is irrevocable! What is best for others is not always what they want.Sometimes it is to confront someone on their behavior and the negative consequences of that behavior.

    A parent sometimes agape’s his son by spanking his bottom or by setting appropriate limits and saying no when that is appropriate. It is nice to think that I am doing God’s will by patiently enduring someone’s rude behavior with a smile on my face but is that really helping the other person? If you say nothing about it what the other person learns is that it is OK to be rude to others. If confronting a person on their inappropriate behavior is what is best for that person then waiting in calm silence is uncaring for the other person and we have selfishly did it for our self for some reason. Agape in that instance is telling the person in a kind why what the problem is and what is the better way to do things.

    I am a 68 y/o life time Christian and I used to work as a Registered Nurse on psychiatric units in hospitals for 20 years. I hope I have said something that has been helpful.

    • LMSmith

      Thank you for your input – I found it quite insightful and encouraging!  Those of us in our 60′s remember being brought up with manners, and tried to install that in our own children, also.  Your “career” is one most of us wouldn’t want to follow, and I thank God He gave you the grace to work in that “ministry” for all of that time.  

      (The scenario ran in my head something like this:  Talking to a pro-abortionist, I found myself saying – “How loving would it be of you to abort me?  Would you consider it a ‘loving gesture’ of me to abort you?”  Hopefully, this would give pause to such a person, and the response would decide how the conversation would continue…IF it would.  Thank you again for your comments, Alnrn78!)

      • Lms1948

        Oops – that should be “instill” rather than “install”.  However… ;)

  • Pstrulm

    For those of us which had the opportunity to live in an earlier America (say pre-sixties), we often compare earlier times and decry the differences today. Society – especially American society – is just a coarser place to live in. What has changed? I believe it’s our declining national attitude towards human life. Everything is affected. 
    When I begin to dismiss another person ethnically, nationally, or religiously, God’s Spirit often lets me know that there is no reason why I cannot treat them with courtesy and respect. That’s because they are part of God’s creation (image bearers), which HE has declared ‘good’. 

    • Albert Nygren

      When you say, “our declining national attitude towards human life, I suspect that you are referring to abortion and I agree that that is a huge factor. I see another factor just as influential and maybe more so. There has been a systematic attack on belief in God, belief in the Bible; and the Liberal and atheistic indoctrination in the public schools. I read “The Humanist manifesto on their site and one of the things it said was that Christianity was the most “vile” thing on earth and must be systematically removed from the human experience. Wow!

      Satan is still alive and still influencing things on earth. I suspect we are in or close to, “the latter days”, and Satan knows his days are numbered and is doing everything he can to delay that and take as many people to hell with him as he can.

      Thank God that all of this is prophesied in both the Old Testament and the New Testament, that what is happening now will happen but that Satan will not win no matter how bad things look; that Jesus will return in the flesh and rule the earth for 1000 years and that when all is said and done, God’s Creation will return to the state He created it when He said after creating everything, “That all is good. 

  • Dan Thompson

    I agree with the concept of the article wholeheartedly as well as the prior comments.  I do not believe the intent of the article is to say Christians should “let people get away with everything.”  It has concerned me quite a bit lately that we see people in the media and various public venues who claim (and I do not doubt their claim) to be Christian but who denigrate people by their derogatory language and name calling attacking the person instead of the issue.  The Lord has brought it to my that when we do that we only drive a wedge between us and them.  Decry the issue wholeheartedly and do what must be done to defeat it but respect the person as God’s creation just as we.  That is one reason I like Mike Huckabee’s show on the weekend.  He displays that very principle by bringing in people who you would not expect due to their lifestyle and beliefs but treating them with respect.  I have seen it melt their heart!

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