According to a 2004 Planned Parenthood survey, 23% of abortions happen for financial reasons. Medical bills, then diapers, then formula, then two decades of unending expenses. No wonder so many people, especially those who are already poor, are tempted to end life soon after it begins.

Which is where Christians come in. Would you sell your cabin to save a kid? Would you drive your car into the ground to convince a young couple to keep their baby girl? Would you put off your retirement, skip a vacation, or say to a worried niece, “We’ve got you. Whatever it costs, we’ve got you”? Could we, like the earliest Christians, create a culture where no one has to starve or shiver or abort because they’re broke? James wrote, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress” (James 1:27). Pure religion meets the vulnerable right where they’re at.

The Christian religion cares about people’s needs because it is built upon the Christ who cared about our needs. When he saw our need for grace, he met it. And when we prayed for daily bread, he gave it. Despite the immense sacrifice required, love drove Jesus to do everything in his power to meet our deepest and most important needs. 

With eyes fixed on him, let’s do the same for others.