He Is Risen!

I don’t have a lot of pet peeves, but I’ll confess one of mine to you. I’ve learned over the years that national attention on the effort to end abortion in America rises and falls throughout the calendar year. The media, churches, and the general culture are accustomed to talking about abortion in January, as that’s the month when National Sanctity of Human Life Sunday falls. It’s considered “acceptable” to preach, teach, and debate abortion in January. As soon as February comes, however, our society moves on to other issues.

The abortion-ending effort sometimes gets another “attention bump” around Mother’s Day, as we focus on the blessings and honor of motherhood. But the rest of the year typically brings radio silence about the worst holocaust in American history.

There are anomalies to this cycle, of course, and they are typically dictated by abortion happenings in our governmental process. The abortions of an estimated 1 million children per year in America garner far more attention during transitions of power – especially if abortion is made a front-line discussion, as President Trump has done and continues to do.

We notice these cycles at Human Coalition all the time. Church engagement, event attendance, general fundraising, and community engagement are all heavily influenced by the season and the governmental climate.

And that’s my pet peeve: Why should national attention on ending the greatest genocide in American history be based on a certain month or news cycle? Shouldn’t we, as compassionate and generous Americans, be commanding and driving the conversation about ending abortion simply as a matter of ongoing human justice, without the influence of outside factors?

“Hey, Fisher, this is a really odd Easter blog.”

I suppose it is but stay with me.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most earth-shaking, life-changing event in world history. The fact that Jesus was conceived and born is fantastically awesome. Moreover, the fact that He was killed and then brought back to life three days later is so majestic, so incredible that words fail to properly describe it.

God came to earth as a man, lived a perfect life, was crucified, and then summarily crushed death just for us. Talk about amazing grace.

Every Easter season we spend a month or so reflecting on Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. We somberly contemplate Good Friday, though we are quick to remark, “Sunday is coming!”

And when Easter Sunday finally comes, the celebratory atmosphere is palpable. As I’ve noted in previous blog entries, I blast “The Easter Song” every year on the stereo, waking my sleepy family to the greatest news ever delivered to mankind. We dress in special outfits for church; we sing worship songs and hymns a little more loudly; we greet each other with “He is risen!” “He is risen indeed!”; and then we share a special meal with family and friends.

In essence, we try to catch and promote a faint glimpse of the unspeakable victory Christ bought for us on the cross, which He then eternally finalized when He sprung from the grave.

In other words, the Christian life is one of assured victory. We are servants in a Kingdom that is growing, unshakable, and undefeatable. Of course, we struggle, we suffer, we experience loss and pain. However, we do so knowing that the war is already over, the victory is assured, and Christ is King over every speck of the universe. We should live as if every day is Easter, and I think many of us try to do just that.

If we truly live in that victory every day (not just on Easter), then we are compelled to intentionally and aggressively look for opportunities to overcome evil through the cross. And, as I’ve argued before, there is no greater manifestation of evil in America than the slaughter of almost 60 million innocent babies since Roe v. Wade.

Here’s my point – if we live every day like it’s Easter, then we also need to live every day confronting the evil that our King defeated on our behalf. That means we run to the deepest hurts, the greatest atrocities, the most oppressed people, and the worst suffering; and we conquer those evils on behalf of our Victorious King. And our efforts to conquer evil have nothing to do with the month of the year or government events. Human suffering and death are not sound bites.

The Christian life demands that we not be Pollyannaish. We acknowledge and suffer sickness, violence, persecution, and evil. However, the Christian life also demands that we be eternal optimists. We are more than conquerors. We have been placed on this earth to do good works prepared in advance for us (Ephesians 2:10). And because of our Savior, we aggressively seek out injustice, and we work to free the oppressed because we – once ourselves oppressed by sin – have been set free by our Victorious King.

Abortion can and will be ended in our lifetime. Let’s not depend on National Sanctity of Human Life Sunday or the government to raise awareness of the greatest evil America has ever faced. Instead, let’s come together and drive abortion from our cities each and every day, in service to and for the glory of our Risen King!