Pregnant
Originally scheduled for April 26
Permit me, if you will, to pose to you a
hypothetical problem. The problem comes in the form of a person, as
these things often do. She is 16 years old, not yet out of high
school, and she is pregnant. Her male partner is nowhere to be
found, having left the area at the first hint of the word “baby.”
What is your reaction to this? Let me submit to you three possible
answers.
·
You may look at this as a taxpayer.
And therefore it may be obvious to you that this is a situation in
which you would waste the taxpayers money, but given the times it is
probably unavoidable. You don’t like it, but you’re a taxpayer and
you’re going to have to pay for it.
·
Perhaps you might say something like
this: isn’t there some agency affiliated with the church that
handles these things? A counseling service of some sort? If it’s not
associated with the church, there are certainly some charities that
handle these things, right? Get their business card and give it to
her.
·
But what if she knows your name? I
don’t mean your first or last name, I mean the name she has called
you by for all of her life: “grandpa.” Think that one over.
There are some principles we can see in action
here.
·
Your response to the situation
depends on how you see the young lady. If you see her as foolish,
wasteful and in need of being straightened out, your reaction will
be rather stern. Being her grandfather, however, changes your
response.
·
The more you love the young lady, the
more expensive your response is going to be. Love never comes
cheaply. She is no less a sinner for it, but you do see the problem
differently.
·
Love in any flavor carries with it a
financial cost but also carries in this instance a cost of
forgiveness. There is no sense lecturing your new
great-granddaughter about how foolish her mother was. Forgiveness
will ultimately be necessary; it usually easier to arrange it as
soon as possible.
Let me submit to you that the example of
Christ, our Savior, is highly instructive. He too sees us as
sinners; his sacrifice on the Cross shows us his love for us. More
than that it shows us his forgiveness for us, bought at the price of
the crucifixion. Forgiveness is expensive; what a blessing it is for
us.
In the elements of communion you see the body
of Christ, the bread, and the blood of Christ, the cup. You are to
take these with serious self-examination, but also with joy: the God
of the universe loves you and forgives you. He is your Heavenly
Father and he wants you home. Examine yourself; remember the
sacrifice and rejoice in the love.
