When our first grandson was a child of three, he had a complete grasp on the value of life.  As I stomped on a pesky little ant as it scurried underfoot, he immediately called me out for taking the insect’s life.  Of course I felt terrible, but in that instant I knew he understood how important life is, and how we need to be aware of even the smallest in God’s creation.   In that same year, he wrote and illustrated a book on ants and how they work together and how industrious they are.  Not to brag, but my firstborn grandchild is a genius.

Life is precious.  Beginning at conception, a life starts.  It safely rests and grows in its mother’s womb and after a period of gestation pushes its way into the world – a world filled with danger, hatred, anger, lust, greed and sins of every sort.  Each one of those sins is equal in God’s eyes.  Even that newborn has been born with sin in its soul.  Our original sin is a result of what happened in the Garden of Eden.

In spite of that, our God has promised to overlook our sin through the sacrifice of His only begotten Son.  Because we have been made clean, we’ve been promised eternity in paradise – a life without any sin and perfect in every way.  While we walk this earth, we are still sinful.  When we die our redemption is sealed and we will never die again.

Yesterday I posted about the importance of teaching our children to respect each other.  Everything we do as parents in the raising of our children is going to affect their future behavior.  Those who live in abusive situations, don’t have the advantage of learning what correct behavior is.  They become victims trapped in a web of lies and deception and eventually are made to feel guilty themselves.

A dear fellow blogger pointed this out to me in her comment on my post yesterday.  She felt that my post might send the wrong message to those who’ve been abused and not heard when they speak of their abuse.  This wasn’t my intention at all, but I certainly understand where she’s coming from.

When allegations of the abused come out ‘en masse, as they have recently, it serves as an opening for  those whose voices have been silenced because of fear.  Yet there are those who are lying about their abuse in order to receive compensation or notoriety.  Those implications can and do cause lost reputations, but more.  They’re making it more difficult for the real victims to be heard.  Crying wolf serves no purpose in the solution to this problem.  It simply allows the perpetrators to continue their abuse.

I am deeply sorry if I offended anyone with my words yesterday, especially those who feel there is no way out for them.  I would not want to be a stumbling block for anyone.  It is imperative that victims of any kind know there’s a place of refuge for them.  If you struggle with abuse, a loss of dignity or innocence or any other assault  on your life, you have a champion who will listen and defend you.  Jesus is there for every one of us.  He died for everyone – even the abusers,  the most horrendous of humanity, and you and me.  All we need to do is believe in Him.

Life is precious.  Don’t let it be snuffed out by those who would harm you!