“It’s kind of an emergency,” a woman from church insisted as she handed me her phone. That’s when I heard the confession of her friend who had an abortion 20 years ago. Abortion seemed like the best choice at the time, yet she still carried the guilt of having ended a life that began at conception.

Maybe you feel that way too. Maybe long ago or just this week you ended a pregnancy. Maybe you’re the guy who pushed it, paid for it, or who didn’t say anything and let her do it. Maybe you’re the mom or dad who didn’t want the pregnancy to prove you weren’t that perfect after all. Maybe you had some good reasons. Maybe not. But maybe now, with an open Bible, you realize God’s perspective. 

If so, listen—Jesus came to forgive and save you. Jesus came from the line of David, once appeared on a mountaintop with Moses, and personally called Paul to be his apostle. What did these three men have in common? They all ended human lives, proving that Jesus forgives the worst things we have done. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

Abortion doesn’t have to be the end of your story. One woman with two abortions in her past recently said, “Good Friday has never been the same for me since.” Look to the cross and see Jesus dying for sins. For everyone’s sins. For all your sins. All of them.