Before You Were Born, You Were Set Apart

On Fridays, I attend a Book of Galatians Bible Study. During the week before, we complete the homework of the session and during class, we go around our table and provide our answers to the questions. Yesterday, at my turn, the question was: “In verse 15 (of Galatians 1), Paul says "God chose me before I was born”. What does this teach us about the call of God?”

I was excited to respond to this question because, when I first read it, I knew the answer. Those “before I was born” words gave it away. I knew Paul often referred, in his writings, to scriptures from the Old Testament. I remembered Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” Paul knew that he had been called from his mother’s womb – which meant that Paul was PRO-LIFE! I am PRO-LIFE because I believe that I, too, was called from my mother’s womb, and, so were you! My mom wasn’t excited when she heard that she was pregnant (12 years after having my sister). She thought she was done with child-bearing and could have been one of those who chose death over life. But, thank God, she chose life and not only was I her “baby” all 94 years of her life, but she was my ministry "baby" after my dad passed away. God set me apart to be her caregiver, and I thank God for that privilege.

I thought back to the National Pro-Life Prayer Luncheon that I attended on Monday. I was there to support LIFE and help provide God-given options to those who were making the decision to bring (or not bring) their baby full term to life. To say that I was proud to be counted among those men and women who are for life from conception puts it mildly. It is heart-wrenching to think that anyone could believe otherwise, especially when we read Paul’s and Jeremiah’s words that speak of the calling of God on our lives BEFORE we were we were even formed in our mothers' wombs.

A beautiful man, who is a stay-at-home dad for his family, sits next to me with his two-month-old baby girl. I chose that seat from the outset of the study. He gives me the joy of cuddling his little angel during the study. Be still, my heart! He commented after the response to my question: “Just think about the babies who have been killed by abortion whose lives were stolen from being prophets to our nation!”

You’ve probably heard about the “Unplanned” movie coming out on March 29th which reveals the story of former Planned Parenthood Clinic Director, Abby Johnson, who was responsible for convincing 22,000+ women to have abortions. She had never seen an abortion from an ultrasound until her clinic was short a staff member and needed her to hold the scope for the abortionist. She was devastated at what she saw, went on to resign, became a Pro-Life advocate, wrote a book that fully disclosed the horror and was later approached by movie directors to produce the movie. She, and the actress, Ashley Bratcher, who plays her in the movie, gave their stories at the luncheon. Most compelling was hearing Ashley tell her mother's story. She knew that her mother had an abortion at age 16, but her mother also revealed that she almost had an abortion at 19 when she was pregnant with Ashley. She said her mom was at the abortion clinic in the examination room, but changed her mind when a pregnant nurse entered the room. "I got up and I walked out and I chose you," Bratcher recalled her mom saying, "And I never knew that. It blows my mind."

I share this story with you today because my heart is so torn to know we live in a city, a state, a country where abortion is just casual conversation. It is a birth-control measure, instead of being a people who are responsible, caring about God’s Word, His words of life – like Jeremiah 1:5. "Before I formed YOU -- I set you apart......to be LIFE-GIVERS!

Set Apart and Consecrated

The word, consecrate, stood out to me in my devotions yesterday. Consecrate: to make something or declare something sacred, blessed, sanctified, make holy, dedicated to God, devoted, reserved, anointed, set apart.

In Luke 2, we read that Jesus' parents took Him to the temple to be consecrated to God. We took that seriously as the template for consecrating our children to God when they were babies. We verbally, from our hearts, consecrated them to God and we prayed that they would be set apart by God, for God.

Often we attribute that word to only religious connotations when we're in church or to those "religious" people who are becoming pastors, priests, deacons, evangelists, nuns, etc. But Joshua told the Hebrews in Joshua 3:5 "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you." Israel needed to remember what kind of people God was calling them to be. They were moving into the Promised Land to establish a nation that would display God’s character and will that fulfilled God's promise to bless all nations through His people (Genesis 12:1-3). God was setting them apart as His holy people for His work that required holiness in their lives.

Yesterday morning as I read about "consecration", the words to this old hymn by Fannie Crosby, "Draw Me Nearer" came to me:
Consecrate me now to Thy service, Lord,
By the power of grace divine;
Let my soul look up with a steadfast hope,
And my will be lost in Thine.

What if that were the prayer we prayed, not just for ourselves, but for our families, our marriages, our children, and our businesses? "Lord, I ask you to "consecrate" (set apart, make holy, bless, make sacred) my family, my children, my business, my marriage." That prayer means stepping away from things and actions that are outside of a "consecrated" life, like the way we manage our personal funds, the way we treat our husband or wife; the way we dress and the way we use our time and talents; what we watch like questionable internet sites, movies, literature and from the priorities we set for ourselves to the way we love and respect each other -- in our homes, business and the marketplace. Consecrating our families means building homes of integrity and honor that will build a legacy; giving God priority in decision making; making God CENTER of everything.

We live in a world when it's often difficult to distinguish whose side we're on, but when we take Joshua's words seriously from Joshua 24:14,15 "Choose you this day who you will serve. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord," then there's no question whose side we're on. We've been consecrated and we're on the Lord's side.