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Why help
women in unplanned pregnancies? Didn't their own bad choices
get them into this position?
In my years in pregnancy center ministry I have had some
ask, “Why don’t you tell those girls to stop getting
themselves into those kinds of situations? Can’t you just
sit them down and tell them they are living in sin?”
That seems like an easy
solution, does it not? We could set everyone straight – in
a hurry. Just tell them to stop doing what they’re doing.
As a mother of teenagers I know that is not only
ineffective, but it might not even be Biblical.
Jesus addressed the situation of
intimacy outside of marriage when he ministered to the
Samaritan woman in John 4. Instead of confronting her
and pointing out her shortcomings, Jesus first offered her
living water, which only He could offer. She was touched and
amazed, and she wanted to hear more from this
Man.
Only after reaching out to
her need did Jesus ask her to call her husband. We know the
story; she had no husband, though she had been a wife to
five different men. She – like many we see – was in the
midst of yet another dead-end relationship, this time living
with a man outside of marriage. Instead of condemning, Jesus
actually complimented her for telling the truth about her
failed past. What could have been a terribly humiliating
moment turned into a life-changing encounter.
Jesus’ compassionate
demonstration of love made a way for transformation. Our
message is the same – not one of condemnation, but of hope
and joy as we offer living water. We are not here to avoid
the truth, just as Christ did not, but to present that truth
wrapped in love. So when a woman comes to us, we are
reminded that while her choices may have put her in a
difficult situation, she is not the first. A woman went to a
well in
Samaria
, suffering in the consequences of her poor choices. When
offered living water, a gift that brings life, she chose
life.
This is an example worth emulating
and at the
Downtown
Pregnancy
Center
we seek to see this story come true again and again!
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