Travailing in Birth

Galations {4:19} My little
children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be
formed in you,


Interesing choice of words here. Paul speaking to the Galations saying... my little children of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.


Jesus told us we had to be born again. Born of water and Spirit.


We are told in Peter that we are born again not of corruptible seed but incorruptible.


John {3:3}
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto
thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the
kingdom of God. {3:4} Nicodemus saith unto him, How can
a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time
into his mother’s womb, and be born? {3:5} Jesus
answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be
born of water and [of] the Spirit, he cannot enter into the
kingdom of God. {3:6} That which is born of the flesh is
flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. {3:7}
Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.


1 Pet. {1:23}
Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of
incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth
for ever. {1:24} For all flesh [is] as grass, and all the glory
of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the
flower thereof falleth away: {1:25} But the word of the
Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the
gospel is preached unto you.


When Paul says he travails with them in birth, he's talking about how a Christian lives as Christ is being formed within them.


Colossians {1:27} To whom God would make known what [is]
the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles;
which is Christ in you, the hope of glory


Christ being formed in us.


As a baby is formed in a mother's womb the mother of a normal, healthy pregnancy feels little pain. It's the birth that brings the travail. When Christ says we must be born again it is a travailing time.


Dictionary Def.

travail

travail (tre-vâl´, tràv´âl´) noun
1. Work, especially when arduous or involving painful effort; toil. See synonyms at work.
2. Tribulation or agony; anguish.
3. The labor of childbirth.

verb, intransitive
travailed, travailing, travails
1. To work strenuously; toil.
2. To be in the labor of childbirth.

Excerpted from The American Heritage® Dictionary


Being a Christian, accepting Christ into our lives is asking to be born again- asking to travail and be birthed until Christ is formed in us. It's not instantaneous. Christ is being formed in our lives, we are being born of Spirit, born of the Word of God and this is a process that isn't easy, but very painful in many ways. Painful to our natural self. The self we have to let die to have Christ in us. The pain is real and we live it every day. We travail as the old creatures in us are done away with and the new creatures are being formed. Day to day we travail and recognizing that our lives are but one more process of growth that we must go through to be Christs is something important. As babes in a womb we are not fully formed. As young children we are not fully formed. We like to think as adults we are fully formed and yet we are not and the only way to keep growing is to accept Christ's love into our lives, accept His grace and His wondrous forgiveness, His mercy. As we keep growing once we accept Christ the growth process isn't something that is accomplished instantly, but each of us has our own growth process as Christians just as we do as people. I may have been a delayed walker while you may have first walked at 9 months. We grow constantly at different rates in body and in Spirit. We have to accept our lives as the Spiritual growing process, the travail as we seek to be born of the Spirit. When Christ comes again then we will complete our birthing in Him, becoming the new creatures He's always meant us to be.


So, while we suffer now and rightly so- in many and varied ways- it will result in the birth of wonder in God transforming us.


May God bless and keep us in Him as we seek to have Christ formed in us. May the suffering we experience now be realized when Jesus comes again and we are finally, fully, completely birthed into the new creatures of the Spirit, His creatures. By His glory! All praise unto Him now and ever!


Amen.