Become What You Are!

This is a quote from John Piper's Book, Exposing the Dark Work of Abortion.   Click on the link and download it.  

First a Call to Conversion, Then to Light-Shining
All of that happens to you when you become a Christian by putting your trust in Jesus as Savior and Lord of your life. 

The rest of the story is: become what you are!
Forgive—out of your forgivenness.
Love—out of your being loved.
Shine—with the light that Christ is in you. 

So the call to Christian pro-life action is first a call to conversion—to new birth—to repentance and faith in Jesus.

Then it is a call to let your light shine in the darkness—to walk as children of the light. This is why in verse 9 Paul says, “For the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true.” Paul calls goodness and justice and truth the fruit of light because it grows naturally out of light. Fruit comes out of a tree because of what the tree is. That is the Christian life: becoming what you are—bearing fruit.

The opposite of the “fruit of light” is “the works of darkness.” Look at verse 11: “Take no part in the fruitless works of darkness.” The opposite of “light” is “darkness” and the opposite of “fruit” is “works.” This is just like Galatians 5 where Paul contrasts the “fruit of the Spirit” and the “works of the flesh.” 

And the point is the same: true Christian living is essentially fruit-bearing, not essentially working. It is essentially letting the fruit show what the tree is like. It is not working to become a tree. We become a tree and stay a sound tree by trusting in the free mercy of God and all that he is for us in Jesus. The Christian life—with all its pro-life action and everything else that is good—is being what we are, God-forgiven, God-adopted, Christ-loved, fruit-bearing trees.

Shine your light, Christian!  Download and read the book.  The following is from the Desiring God site:

 We are children of the light. Abortion is a work of darkness. The apostle Paul said, “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them” (Ephesians 5:11).

God is calling passive, inactive Christians today to engage our minds and hearts and hands in exposing the barren works of darkness. To be the conscience of our culture. To be the light of the world. To live in the great reality of being loved by God and adopted by God and forgiven by Christ (yes—for all the abortions that dozens of you have had), and be made children of the light.