Euthanasia is probably one of the most difficult topics to understand, much less deal with in a real life situation. When does a person have the right to choose his or her own death? What has been obscured under the fight for rights is the fact that we must even contemplate a “right to die” in the first place. Life, it would seem, is no longer treasured enough in our society. We now measure the worth and value of human life by standards of birth defects, whether a person can work or even get out of bed. Suddenly the value of life is no longer transcendent of these things.

If the right to die is secured for the ill and their families, what will be the outcome of such a decision to cut short someone’s life? Aside from the pain of loss, what will be the fate of the patient who exercises his right to die?

We cannot ignore the eternal perspective. Walking, or being pushed through death’s door takes us to the eternal. There is nothing more relevant to this issue that a reasoned discussion of fate and eternity.

Jesus said, “Unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sin.” Before death—voluntary or involuntary—all of us must deal with our sin and the remedy found in Jesus Christ—The Great Physician. What good will exercising the right to die be if those who do so, do it without the knowledge that the so-called right could lose a soul for eternity? While the battle against the right to die is fought, we must also fight desperately for the right to live, because the absence of one does not guarantee the return of the other.

One place where life is still of value is in the homes of adoptive and foster parents. These parents sacrifice much to give some of the most unlovable and unwanted children in our society a home and a chance to change from the inside out. These children and the homes they live in, show us an important truth of the Gospel that is often not understood.

To be adopted is to be accepted in spite of ourselves. To be picked out and loved by someone, that is the greatest picture of love we could hope to have—love by choice.

As an adoptive Father, God also picks us out, choosing to love us by choice in spite of ourselves. It is a beautiful picture and a wonderful gift we are offered. It is also an interesting contrast of two ideas—the right to die and the choice to love the unlovable.

On one hand some fight for the right to bring the elderly and unfortunate to an early demise. One the other hand there are those who choose to love the people that have not been loved, and they persist with them through the toughest of circumstances. They are to be admired.

The others are to be cautioned.