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And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. (Revelation: 12:2)
Labor precedes birth. It has been that way from the time Eve gave birth to Cain and Abel (Gen. 3:16). No child is born until there is first labor (Isa 23:4). When Rachel gave birth to Benjamin, the Bible says, “Rachel travailed, and she had hard labour” (Gen. 35:16).
Salvation is likened to a spiritual birth (John 3:1-7). A child does not labor to be born - The labor is by the mother in giving birth to the baby. So it is with the new birth. A person is not “born again,” by any labor they do (Titus 3:5). They are born again because of the labor of another who worked to get the Gospel to them. Paul travailed to bring forth spiritual children. Paul wrote to the Galatians, “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you” (Gal. 4:19).
Perhaps one reason why we are not seeing more spiritual babes being birthed in the Church today is a LACK OF LABOR and travailing. No labor, no giving birth!
Labor in child birth is painful. Today I am finding, Church members want a comfortable soul winning plan - One that requires no labor… no tears… no travailing… no risk. Something easy. They want an outreach program that makes no demands… no inconvenience… no commitment… no sacrifice.
Sorry, there ain’t no such animal when it comes to getting people saved. God’s way is LABOR… sometimes HARD LABOR as with Rachel. As Paul wrote, “For ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail: for labouring night and day... we preached unto you the gospel of God” (1 Thess. 2:9). We don’t see much of that in Churches today.
The joy comes AFTER the labor has been exerted and a soul is finally saved. The experience bringing someone to Christ and seeing them born into the family of God is a joy beyond compare. As Jesus said, “A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world” (John 16:21). Ask any woman who has gone through the pangs of labor to bring a baby into the world. The labor pains are soon forgotten as she holds her new born baby in her arms. The same is true when you lead a soul to Christ. You forget about all the T.V. shows you missed; the doors slammed in your face; the tears you shed; the weariness you experienced; the times you were cussed out; the inconvenience you suffered; and all the money you gave (Acts 5:41).
How much labor, pain, and travailing are YOU exerting to give birth to a “new born babe in Christ?” Remember: no labor pains, no baby is born.
God rewards our work… not our idleness.
Pastor. Al Hughes
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