When, oh when, will the day come?

I think the question may have first come to mind after I finally watched the 2011 movie "The Help" about three weeks ago.

It was put into words as Linda and I visited with a godly young friend on Labor Day.

President Obama's decision to make abortion a centerpiece of his re-election campaign lurks in its background.

The question? It is this:

When will we as Americans look back on legalized abortion as we now do slavery and the Jim Crow laws of the South?

And that leads to other questions:

-- Would God -- in His gracious sovereignty -- grant it in my lifetime? At least in the lifetimes of those who are now living?

On January 22 of next year, we will reach the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton -- the Supreme Court's companion decisions that wiped out all state bans on abortion and legalized the practice nationwide throughout all stages of pregnancy. That is four decades and -- even more horribly -- 50 million, closer to 55 million, destroyed unborn children ago. That also is tens of millions of devastated mothers -- and fathers and grandparents -- who chose abortion or pressured for abortion and lived to regret doing so ago.

-- What will we do that those who follow decades from now will not look back on us as we now look back on those professing Christians who supported a form of apartheid in this country and treated fellow image-bearers of God as less than fully human?

There are many steps we can take. I will mention a few that seem appropriate at this time:

(1) We can let the sheer weight of legalized abortion press deeply into our being with a longing that God would break up calloused hearts that have become used to our acceptance of child-killing.

(2) We can intercede for women and unborn babies in desperate straits and for those who influence them. In communities with abortion clinics, we can exercise a prayerful, servant-hearted presence in front of those centers. We can pray for those who promote abortion from spiritual blindness. We can ask God to intervene in our government that justice and mercy would be exalted at every level.

(3) We can live in the light of the gospel of Jesus -- reminding ourselves of it; sharing it with those who push abortion, use it or are tempted to use it; proclaiming it in our churches and homes, making disciples in the process, and supporting ministries that deliver help and the gospel to mothers in need.

Oh that there would never be a 100th anniversary for legal abortion in 2073! Oh that there would never be an 80th anniversary! Oh, even, that there would never be a 50th anniversary!

May it be so, Lord!