Shout It

God is calling us to walk in a steadfast manner, with our lives firmly built on His strong foundation, and living according to the principles we find in the Word of God. Colossians chapter 2 relates:
5 For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.
6 As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,
7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.

The culture around us is unstable: there is moral decay and economic peril all around us. But, in the midst of it, we find that we can exhibit a resolve that comes from our knowledge of Jesus Christ. We can have peace in crisis and rejoice in God's faithfulness to His people.  Where there is anxiety, we can have the assurance that God is with us. We can be bold to speak in accordance with what God's Word teaches, even though culture at large is trending the other way.

+++++

In a series of admonitions in the final chapter of the book of 1st Corinthians, Paul encourages us to stand strong in the Lord. We find these words in 1st Corinthians 16:
13 Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong.
14 Let all that you do be done with love.

In the news and entertainment media, you might get the sense that the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court, which has the potential to save thousands and ultimately millions of unborn lives, is the most unfair decision that has ever been made.  The fever pitch with which some people express their misguided opinions has become seemingly more and more intense.

There is certainly a deficiency of people in the entertainment sector that would dare to support such a heinous decision, as it's been erroneously described. Faithwire spotlighted a pro-life voice in Hollywood who is lauding the Court's decision. 

Her name is Kimberly Elise, and she posted on Instagram: “Millions of babies will be saved from death by abortion due to the overturning of Roe v. Wade,” adding, “Hallelujah! #allglorybetoGod.” The story notes:

She included a video along with her message that featured the image of a baby, the song “Jesus Loves Me,” and text from Psalm 139:13-14, Scriptures that are overwhelmingly pro-life.

These verses read (NIV), “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

But, she did receive her share of "blowback," as the article notes.  

Elise re-dedicated her life to Christ back in 2019, and Faithwire states, "the actress has been very vocal about her Christian faith."  It relates:

In fact, she celebrated her 54th birthday last year by getting re-baptized. She said in an Instagram post she was first baptized at age 16 but fell into the world. Still, Elise said God never left her.

“The Holy Spirit never left me. Though I didn’t always make the best choices over all these years, the Holy Spirit kept a hedge of protection around me to keep me from falling too, too far astray,” she wrote. “And God continuously blessed me greatly in spite of my errors.”

In a quote from a PureFlix.com article, she says, "If you don’t know Jesus, seek Him before it’s too late, and there are no more chances, believe, repent and surrender to Him...If you knew Him once but lost your way, repent, call out to Him — He wants you to come home too.”

We should be diligent to proclaim our faith. In word and action.  And, our trust in Christ and knowledge of the Word informs our views on the sanctity of life and the dignity of every person, including the unborn.  In an age in which celebrities are saying, "Shout your abortion!," we can be determined to proclaim and live out our faith.

Our deeply held beliefs affect our views - while some would denigrate our taking a Biblical stand on issues as inappropriate "political" involvement that Christians should not be involved in, we can be steadfast in allowing the Word of God to inform how we approach life and how we engage on critical issues.