Do you know of persons who’ve gone through hours of childbirth? I’m told it’s excruciating. Some are blessed, their processes were short, smooth, and painless. Have you ever been in a delivery room for someone else in labour? For those of you who have been, what was the experience like? How would you say it compares to the current delivery room we’re occupying together? Consider Today’s Holy Nougat.
Matthew 24:6-8 NIV
[6] You will hear of wars and rumours of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.
[7] Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
[8] All these are the beginning of birth pains.
Long Labour
Siblings, in guarding against deception, we find that we must have concrete knowledge of facts or truth. Recognizing when The End has come also requires that we are aware of the signs that precede and accompany it. What we’re focusing on now is not The End. The End would be the unborn child, whose labour we are experiencing.
These wars may be precursors to the famed ‘Battle of Armageddon’ that’s supposed to be the war of wars. However, those wars and rumours are not The End. It becomes worrisome because the acts of wartime engagement perpetrated by the powerful against their real, perceived, and contrived enemies are usually quite dehumanising. They also contribute to the famine in some parts of the world, because of the tactics used and the deployment of agrarian warfare.
Self-Check
How current are we with the wars taking place across the world? Do we feel led to play our part in brokering change, or are we simply worried about the impact of the war on our comforts?
Application
We can’t sit around saying, ‘It’s those people over in … whose problem it is.’ Inasmuch as we would accompany the expectant mother through every contraction, through every element of labour, we ought to determine what our role is.
But …
– We can denounce the injustice without using epithets.
– We can be the ones pushing for shifts in policies about refugees and war crimes.
– We can insist that governments, our own governments especially, are held accountable for the internal and external injustices meted out to others.
– We can offer support to those impacted by these local and global conflicts, just as we’d mop the brow of an expectant mother.
This isn’t the time to procrastinate or simply sit on the sidelines. Each of us must be found helping to create change in whatever way we can.
Point to Ponder
What impact shall we make in this season?
May all we seek be found in Christ
