To Be or Not To Be

Today’s devotion from 40 Days for Life:

DAY 25 INTENTION
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We pray for the conversion of all those who refuse to
acknowledge that human life belongs only to God.

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SCRIPTURE
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Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: “Before
I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were
born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to
the nations.”

— Jeremiah 1:4-5

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REFLECTION by Rev. J. Kirk van der Swaagh
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To be or not to be? There is no question!

The question of “being” is something philosophers
have long pondered.

What is the meaning of being and what is the source?
In the passage before us, we have our answer. We have
being because we are known by God.

For God to declare that he knows and sets apart the
prophet Jeremiah even before he is conceived
indicates that our being rests in God’s own being.
Because He is and because He wills we, therefore, are
and do.

The Apostle Paul says as much when he declares before
the philosophers of his day, “In Him we live and move
and have our being” (Acts 17:28).

One of the tragedies of the abortion culture is that
life in the womb has been so heartbreakingly
devalued. To embrace the arguments of the
“pro-choice” crowd one must conclude that the child
in the womb doesn’t exist, isn’t there, has no being.

But nothing could be further from the truth. That
child is known by God and, as such, has being.

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PRAYER
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Lord God, we confess that in You we live and move and
have our being. Because You are, we are. May we find
grace from You to affirm the being of every human and
may we labor to make this truth known to the world
around us. Amen.