Birthin' and Raisin'

Good morning,

In Galatians 4:18-20, Paul uses the analogy of a laboring mother to frame his bewilderment and incredulity over the waywardness of the Galatian church.

18 Now it is always good to be enthusiastic about good—and not just when I am with you. 19 My children, I am again suffering labor pains for you until Christ is formed in you. 20 I would like to be with you right now and change my tone of voice, because I don’t know what to do about you.

(Holman Christian Standard Version)

Here, he likens planting churches to raising children.  I find this funny, in a way.  Obviously, Paul never birthed a child; we don't even know if he had any, or a wife either for that matter.  Yet, he uses this object lesson that is more apt to be understood by women.  Shakin' my head...

In verse 18, Paul commends zeal and enthusiasm about following the right path, doing righteousness which, of course, begins and ends in the gospel of Jesus Christ.  In our lives, we can take courage and affirmation from that as we continue to pursue holiness in our daily walks.

Paul's heart is broken over the direction this church has taken.  He confesses that he doesn't know what to do about their leap into heresy.  He was there at their "birth" as a church.  He oversaw their earliest days and "raised them right".  Yet, after he had to move on to plant the gospel elsewhere, he heard that they had departed from the faith message he delivered to them.

As a woman who has birthed two sons, this passage resonates with me.  My niece is about to deliver her first child in a few weeks.  She is understandably anxious about the experience.  I remember that I was too.  The thing is....the physical labor is just the beginning of raising children, if you desire to model the life of Christ before them, if it is your heart's desire to see them to choose and become an intimate follower of Jesus Christ.  Paul realized this about his "spiritual children", the Galatians.

You would not believe how many of my Christian friends agonize over their spiritually "wayward" children.  The thing is, you know, you can't inherit a relationship with Jesus Christ from parents, friends, pastors, teachers, etc.  We don't suck our faith out of a bottle.  It is a one-to-one thing: a personal transaction between one human and his or her God.  As Christian parents, our children though are our most beloved ones...those little pieces of our hearts, walking around.  We earnestly desire that they come to the Truth and find their salvation in Him.  We long, with every fiber of our being, to see Christ fully formed in them (vs. 19).  But, it does not always happen, nor does it usually happen on our timetable when it does happen.  This is utter heartbreak for the Christian parent and yes, often, we parents simply don't know what to do about the situation.

Maybe this is why Paul chose this analogy.  Somehow, he knew of that heartbreak, and he was using it to express his deep pain over the waywardness of the Galatian church.  Don't you know, though, that our Heavenly Father feels similar pain when we, His children, wander?  His heart is broken when we choose our own ways, to satisfy our own selfish, worldly desires instead of following His way? Paul admonished the Galatians (and now us) to be zealous, ardent, enthusiastic about following Christ, because doing so cheers the heart of our Abba, our Father.

As for reaching children who have chosen an inferior way, we as parents must continue to be zealous in praying for them, in modeling Christ before them, in claiming the promises of God and in submitting to the sovereignty of God regarding them.  I'm not talking about "giving up on them".  I'm talking about "giving them up to God", laying them on the altar and praying "Your will be done, in earth as it is in Heaven."  Talk about labor...this is an excruciating sacrifice of the heart.

I think on Romans 8:32, where we read about how God did not "spare" His own Son.  He did not hold tight to him with a tight fist.  He opened His hand and sent His Son, giving Him up for us all.  If God gave the Son of His heart for me, how can I not give Him those dearest parts of myself? How can I not release to His care those most precious ones, those who were consecrated to Him from their earliest day in utero?  They are His beautiful creation, never really "mine" after all.

Oh God, "give me one pure and holy passion, one magnificent obsession, one glorious ambition for my life: to know and follow hard after You. " (William H. Murphy) In Jesus' name, amen.