So, I recently shared a tweet on the topic of abortion. I don’t know what I was thinking. Many years ago when I started using Twitter I made a mental note of a few things not to talk about… abortion was certainly at the top of that list. Yet, here I am, with a post on this sensitive topic at the top of my feed.

I don’t usually mention abortion on Twitter - not because it doesn’t need to be talked about - but because Twitter has a way of bringing out the most extreme of opinions on both sides of the argument. And boy did this conversation thread turn sideways on me. Within 12 hours this tweet had been seen by an astonishingly large amount of people (nearly 200,000) and nearly 3,000 of those people engaged personally with the message. Most of the engagement was negative. Most of the engagement was belittling to me. Most of the engagement was anti-love. And it came from both sides of the argument.

There were dozens of people making the case that abortion should be completely illegal no matter the circumstance, going as far as saying it should be criminal and women who have an abortion procedure should be placed in prison. Wow!

The other extreme of the abortion argument showed up strong as well, telling me that because I am a male I don’t get a right to speak about the topic of abortion. I will never feel what a woman feels and so I don’t get to speak on this “woman’s issue.”

And the feeling came rushing back to me - I don’t talk about hard topics because of the hostility. I have allowed myself to become paralyzed by hostility. It doesn’t ever feel worth facing the mob that comes out in full force when you share your thoughts. And, as a Christian, most of my thoughts are now being placed in the “minority” view of culture. As I speak my convictions on things that are challenging, I will continue to face a wave of hostility because what we believe takes great faith.

But I learned something during the wave of thousands of opinions being hurled at me for sharing mine…

God’s Word is a powerful tool.

God’s Word is the ultimate tool to give us courage in sharing God’s message with the world. In this case, I believe that God defines life at conception and that God loves each of His children. He doesn’t want anyone to be killed at the hand of another. God is clearly PRO-LIFE in every sense of the definition. I know this because He created life. I know this because He died for us to live. God’s Word is His love story, calling us back to the one who made us and the one who values us (including the not-yet-born).

Many years ago I would have shared a tweet like the one linked above and been so scared of the hostility that it would have been deleted in a matter of minutes. But when we plant God’s Word in our hearts it allows us to speak the truth with love. This is why I’m glad my friend (and founder of Think Eternity), Matt Brown, has written a book that helps us do just that: Truth Plus Love.

So, even in this blog post, don’t let this become some divisive blog about abortion (although I hope you get engaged in the topic and help someone in need - both the mother and the children). Let it be heard loud and clear that God’s Word is our guidepost. What it says is what we do. What is says is how we act: both in Truth and in Love.

We must continue to look to God’s Word as our compass. And we must continue to share what God asks us to share in love.