(by Jen, 10 min)
Pregnancy and childbirth are amazing. God created a woman’s body to adapt itself – to grow and change to accommodate a growing baby. Much of what happens to a woman’s body during the gestation period is outside of her control. Yes, she can monitor her diet and exercise, but her body is going to do what it must do to grow and sustain life. I have firsthand experience in saying it ain’t all pretty.
Most husbands find they have a newfound respect for their wives as they watch this process and much more during childbirth. Even when an epidural is used, there is still pain, pressure, breathing, focusing, work, and involuntary actions that happen during childbirth. Of course, there is also the waiting. And as much as couples would like an easy childbirth with no complications, it often doesn’t happen that way. The baby could be breach (coming out backwards), the umbilical cord could wrap around the baby’s neck, the mom could experience distress which in turn causes the baby distress, or a mom could spend over 17 hours in hard labor, one hour of pushing to the point of breaking blood vessels in her eyes, to then having to submit to delivering the baby by C-section.
For me and my firstborn, it was 19 hours of hard back labor and two hours of pushing before I was able to hold the fruit of my labor. And just like that, that moment of holding my firstborn, did I experience the ability to forget. That precious life was so miraculous, so beautiful that all the pain in the day leading up to his birth seemed so miniscule. I was able to look back and see that it wasn’t that bad, and the pain brought about something beautiful. For most women (couples) that is universal. If it wasn’t, we wouldn’t put ourselves through it again, or even multiple times. It is all worth it when a couple holds that baby.
I like to think of sanctification as like labor and childbirth sometimes. The process of sanctification could be quick and virtually painless or long and drawn out, exhausting, and painful, and we might even utter the words “I can’t do this” and want to give up. And of course, there is the waiting because sanctification is on God’s timetable, not our own. However, at the end we each hold something beautiful and miraculous – a closer relationship with Jesus.
The red letters of the gospel of John 15:1-4 jump out at me: “I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. Remain in me and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me” (NLT). Another great metaphor for the progressive action of sanctification. Sanctification doesn’t always feel or look pretty, nor is it easy by any means, but if we could point our hearts to God’s heart and what it means to Him for us to be Christ-like, we can see the miracle that comes from it. And every moment of sanctification that we make it through should be a faith booster for the next.
Take a moment to mediate on that thought – if we could point our hearts to God’s heart and what it means to Him for us to be Christ-like…God is shaping us and molding us every day into His image. He looks at us and knows who He created in us and the plan He has for our lives. I need to tell you, I fought this a good part of my life (even still, sometimes). I am sure that grieves the Lord. Now, to my defense (I use that word lightly) I never knew, until my mid 40’s, what it meant to have a relationship with Jesus. But, nonetheless, I thought I knew better. Looking back, all the unanswered prayers, all the failures, all the me not getting what I want and all the ways people in my life challenged me – were sanctifying me. And nine times out of ten it was uncomfortable, painful, long, and didn’t look especially pleasing – but from it, beauty emerged. My thoughts started to change; my words started to change; what I read and watched changed; my emotions started to change and most importantly, the posture of my heart changed. I could almost feel God giving me an “atta girl, I knew you could do it.” Nothing feels more special when you know you are pleasing God. What is even more special is that we can be confident that when we do backslide, (which we inevitably will in some way) that we have a God with an unconditional love that will not give up on us. I have to say, I love that!
Like the pruning of a tree or labor and childbirth, both painful (metaphorically and literally) and often not visually appealing, sanctification is miraculous. From a pruned tree or vine comes new life and more abundance of fruit; from labor and childbirth come a tiny life full of incredible possibilities and hope. When we look back and see the fruits of our labor, we can rest assured that current pain, troubles, struggles, and growing pains are part of a sanctification process that some days, weeks, months, or years in the future we can look back on and revel in the beauty of them.
Leave a Reply