From the desk of the Church Ambassador Network
Yesterday at our Capitol, there were gut-wrenching stories told by supporters of assisted suicide. These stories tugged at our heartstrings--one reason being that these testimonies were driven by fear of death and fear of not being able to control death.
At the Church Ambassador Network (CAN), we know that the love of God casts out all fear. Our desire for all Minnesotans, including our legislators and all the testifiers, is for them to come to possess the only thing that can provide a bulwark against this Spirit of fear.
While the Spirit of God is not compatible with the Spirit of fear (Romans 8:15,2 Timothy 1:7), in the Spirit of the Lord there is freedom (2 Corinthians 3:17). Are our decisions especially towards the end of life driven by fear or love? There is no fear in love for love casts out fear (1 John 4:18). The only fear that is acceptable to the Lord is a God-honoring fear that looks to His wisdom (Proverbs 1:7, Psalm 147:11) and not the wisdom of our times that does not value life or the thoughts of God.
When we look at the perfect love of God that that drives out fear, we see Jesus Christ, the only one who had the right and authority to choose death, and even in his death he shows his perfect love and gives life. (Romans 5:8, John 6:40) And he rose from the grave and defeated death. He gives many life so that we would honor him with our lives and when it is his appointed time, we honor him with our deaths. He chose death so that we would choose life. The only death Minnesotans should choose is death to our sin that we might be united to Jesus' death on the cross so that we would be raised up with Christ, by the Spirit, in newness of life in soul and have abundant life, even eternal life through the freedom of his love.
God gives us freedom to choose life and love. Minnesota, let us not mock God and sow seeds of death that only can reap corruption and more death but let us sow to the truth that leads to life. This life that we write of is driven by love, perfectly displayed by Christ and his perfect love. Therefore, even those who are in suffering towards the end of life that have the Spirit can say along with the Psalmist, “this is my comfort in my affliction that your promise gives me life” (Psalm 119:50).
From the beginning, people have been tempted to act like God and try to take control of their lives. It's a temptation as old as time, stemming from Adam and Eve, but as we can see from the hearing yesterday, we must continue to fight against it. Our hope is that Minnesotans will put sin to death and will choose abundant life in Christ.
