Hosanna Restoration Church

If we give any thought to what this scripture is talking about, we should be pretty amazed at the truth of it. My hat goes off to all the women who labor to give birth. I cannot imagine what they go through even though I have been present for six such events. It is even more amazing when you consider that some women have only heard the stories of the horrors of giving birth and still do it! No doubt a book could be written and perhaps it has been written on the many different ways to approach such an enormous thing in life.

No doubt some spend nine months in fear and hate every minute of it. Others for the joy of having a child spend the whole time joyfully preparing and then labor on. In the end, no matter what, there is labor involved! After all of that, it seems to me that the woman would be foolish to allow anything to steal the joy that the child brings with it into this world.

Scripture tells us that Jesus labored through the cross for the joy that was set before Him. I guess He knew something about labor too. The truth is, we all know some things about labor, and we all see our labor as a pretty big thing. There are those things that we refer to as a “labor of love,” however just because it is a labor of love that does not make it wonderful!

There is one labor that should come to an end and that is the labor of loving God. To begin with, it may seem effortless. After all, it usually begins when we realize that He is willing to forgive our sins and we are so grateful that we are infatuated. Unfortunately, this infatuation can and often does wear off.

In order for this love to continue, we really do need to make the effort to get to know God. We need to know how faithful He is. We need to know about His promises. We need know His Word so that we can watch Him perform it. We need to allow Him to accomplish His will in our lives.

As we do this, we become stronger and more grounded in our love for Him. We are then able to handle those things that at one time may have tipped us over. Once we have seen God give birth to one thing after another in our lives, we learn to look beyond what was once labor, things that we once thought were so hard; and see that there is joy coming.

Once we have come to that place, we can enjoy labor-less love. It is not effortless, but there is no labor involved. We are happy to put in effort when we are sure of results. We can be sure of the results when we love God. Doubts, fears, and dismay, must all go away in the light of this great love.