I am currently in the middle of a teaching series with my youth group on Romans 8. Wow, does this chapter have a bunch to say. Here's a small taste of something I shared and the scripture that went along with it.
Pregnancy is a funny thing. A woman gets pregnant for the first time and she is normally excited. This is a married woman. An unmarried woman gets pregnant and she is cursing and panicking, which is why we save sex for marriage. I digress. A married woman is excited. She can’t wait to tell her friends and family.
Then something happens over 9 months. She goes through some changes.
In the first trimester she experiences something called morning sickness. She’s puking, she’s sick and it’s not even flu season.
In the second trimester, she is beginning to show a baby bump, which means certain clothes don’t fit, but her appetite is back. She has these cravings for certain foods. The husband happily obliges.
Then the third trimester shows up. Jabba, I mean, the wife, just wants the jar of pickles to herself. The only clothing that fits was sewn together by Omar the Tent-maker. Sleep is impossible with this basketball making it difficult to get up, much less roll over.
Oh, and then we have what is called labor and delivery. There’s water breaking and swearing that reminds you of bad movies you’ve seen. There’s pushing and groaning, blood and goop and, after hours of this, a little mini-version of yourself appears. The mother and baby are united and all the pain suddenly disappears.
But there’s one more miracle of childbirth. As difficult as it was, after the baby turns one, most mothers say something odd. ‘Let’s have another.’
What?!? What women understand is that the pain is worth it. The discomfort, the groaning, the loss of sleep and sanity are all worth it. And this is what Paul is trying to explain to us. We “wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship”, enduring the pain for a while, because we have a hope. We don’t see it yet, but we wait patiently.
Pregnancy is a funny thing. A woman gets pregnant for the first time and she is normally excited. This is a married woman. An unmarried woman gets pregnant and she is cursing and panicking, which is why we save sex for marriage. I digress. A married woman is excited. She can’t wait to tell her friends and family.
Then something happens over 9 months. She goes through some changes.
In the first trimester she experiences something called morning sickness. She’s puking, she’s sick and it’s not even flu season.
In the second trimester, she is beginning to show a baby bump, which means certain clothes don’t fit, but her appetite is back. She has these cravings for certain foods. The husband happily obliges.
Then the third trimester shows up. Jabba, I mean, the wife, just wants the jar of pickles to herself. The only clothing that fits was sewn together by Omar the Tent-maker. Sleep is impossible with this basketball making it difficult to get up, much less roll over.
Oh, and then we have what is called labor and delivery. There’s water breaking and swearing that reminds you of bad movies you’ve seen. There’s pushing and groaning, blood and goop and, after hours of this, a little mini-version of yourself appears. The mother and baby are united and all the pain suddenly disappears.
But there’s one more miracle of childbirth. As difficult as it was, after the baby turns one, most mothers say something odd. ‘Let’s have another.’
What?!? What women understand is that the pain is worth it. The discomfort, the groaning, the loss of sleep and sanity are all worth it. And this is what Paul is trying to explain to us. We “wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship”, enduring the pain for a while, because we have a hope. We don’t see it yet, but we wait patiently.
We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
~Romans 8:22-25
Do you have hope?
Comments