This message was given at the United for Life rally at the Minnesota State Capitol in February 2023.
Ten years ago, I stood in the capitol rotunda and addressed a similar crowd–perhaps some of you were there–and urged our legislators to uphold marriage as the lifelong union of one man and one woman for the flourishing of children, the good of society, and the honor of God. The radicals then ignored our pleas and attempted to redefine the most fundamental institution in society.
A decade later, we find ourselves here again, urging our legislators to uphold the life, dignity, and value of every human being, in and out of the womb. Or at the very least, don’t make it easier to destroy the lives of human beings.
And I’ve been asked to conclude this gathering with a word to you, the faithful who have braved Minnesota winter and St. Paul sidewalks in order to be here and be United for Life. And that word is simple: Take heart. Don’t grow weary.
It’s easy to grow weary. It’s easy to lament that we live in times of great evil, in which some of our leaders and fellow citizens are at war with reality, seeking to burst the bonds of nature, and cast away the cords that bind mother to child, soul to body, and generation to generation. When the shadow of death and cruelty to babies and mothers and families looms in the halls of power, it’s easy to grow weary, to lose heart.
But we don’t choose the times in which we live. Instead, we choose what to do with the time we’ve been given. And so, we choose life. We choose to receive every child as the gift of God that they are. We choose to stand against the lies of the abortion mills, the party of death, and the dark principalities and powers that lie behind them. We choose to stand up and testify that every child has the right to life! And a right to their mother and father! In dark times, we choose to live with integrity. Like Solzhenitsyn, we say, “Let the lie come into the world, let it even triumph. But not through me.” Not through us!
We choose to be faithful in the winter, because we believe, we know, that Spring is coming, that Aslan is on the move. So be faithful at your posts. Love your families. Cultivate gratitude to God in your homes. Welcome every child in Jesus’s name. And as you meet with your legislators, speak for the voiceless. Urge them to have courage, to do the right thing in the face of pressure from the abortion industry and party leaders committed to this radical agenda. And most importantly, pray to the living God whose justice does not sleep.
Remember the wisdom of Chesterton, who said, “The one perfectly divine thing, the one glimpse of God’s paradise given on earth, is to fight a losing battle – and not lose it.”
And so, don’t grow weary in doing good. Continue to sow seeds of hope and truth in your own families and communities. God has promised: In the Lord Jesus, our labor is not in vain. We will reap a harvest if we don’t give up. In this world, we will have trouble. Take heart, he has overcome the world.
Joe Rigney, Ph.D.
President
Prayer Requests:
- Pray that we each would persevere in prayer and in doing good such that we may reap the harvest the Lord has prepared for us.
- Pray for hearts and minds to be tuned to Christ as we approach Holy Week.
- Pray that the Lord would bring the students he has for us in Fall 2023.
- Praise the Lord with us for his faithfulness and pray that he would provide the remaining funds for our On The Double match.