Directions – January-February 2022
During Life Week 2022 there will be considerable thought given to the theme “God Chose You!” as developed from John 15:16: “ You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.”
Consider some of the following Scriptures that describe just how important and valuable you are in the eyes of God—who chose you! How might you value your neighbor’s life whom this same God chose? How might you support them, especially at the most vulnerable times of their lives?
Exodus 21:22-25 says, “When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman’s husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.”
What does the Bible acknowledge is in the pregnant woman’s womb?
Considering this verse, how might a Gospel-motivated Christian address and show compassion to the pregnant woman, the family members and community, and the offending party who has caused the loss of life?
How could these verses be emphasized for good in the medical community—especially among the doctors, nursing staff, and practitioners who are engaged in the abortion industry? Consider your answer as you meditate on Romans 12:9-21.
Read Galatians 5:16-26. Verses 19-21 give long lists of offending works of the flesh that exclude one from inheritance in the kingdom of God. Discuss how many of these issues are involved in life issues that you and/or your congregation see in your community.
How could your Life Team or Life Chapter discover and address the extent of these life issues in your community? What helps might be available to show compassion and support to those caught up in these works of the flesh?
How could your Life Team or Life Chapter affirm the value of the lives involved in these life issues? Consider what the following Bible passages may add to your discussion as well as options for affirming and supporting the value of all life that God chooses—even life in difficult, vulnerable, and dangerous situations.
- Psalm 68:1-6, 19-21, 32-35
- Deuteronomy 10:12-22
- Job 31:13-23
- Isaiah 47:8-15
- Jeremiah 22:1-10
As a Life Team or Life Chapter, it is important to study the Word of God and to develop answers and resources for those caught up in dangerous and deadly life issues. It is also important to have a heart that breaks for the circumstances and sorrows of those who suffer under the curse of a broken and fallen world. How might the following Bible verses help your team/chapter apply both the Law (showing people their sins) and the Gospel (showing people their Savior) according to the circumstances of the life issues they are experiencing? How might your Life Teams and Life Chapters apply the resources God has gifted to you in aid and encouragement of those you encounter?
- Psalm 50
- Acts 12:6-11
- 2 Timothy 3:10-17
- 2 Peter 2:1-10
- Luke 10:25-37
- Luke 1:46-56
- 1 Peter 3:8-22
In what ways can/will your Life Team or Life Chapter serve your neighbor, whom God has chosen for life? As you consider this, review the Life Week 2022 materials, especially the fact sheets and activity sheets for each day of Life Week: lutheransforlife.org/life-week-2022.
You may want to take one or two days for each month of 2022 and go in depth in exploring these ideas. As you do, using the Bible verses below, consider the way God chooses you to exercise the gifts of salvation in service and support of your neighbors.
- Romans 12:1-8
- Proverbs 19:1-8
- 1 Corinthians 12:1-11
Prayers:
Almighty and ever-living God, You make us both to will and to do those things that are good and acceptable in Your sight. Let Your fatherly hand ever guide us, and Your Holy Spirit ever be with us, to direct us in the knowledge and obedience of Your Word that we may obtain everlasting life through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Again, we pray, Lord God: You have called Your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, and through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that Your hand is leading us and Your love supporting us, through Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
(Prayers adapted from Lutheran Service Book, Altar Book, 2006. Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, Missouri.)