Laboring to Give Birth

Laboring to Give Birth:
John 16:20
The Voice (VOICE)
20 I tell you the truth, a time is approaching when you will weep and mourn while the world is celebrating. You will grieve, but that grief will give birth to great joy.
         As I read the passage in the book of James about testing of our faith, God brought this verse into remembrance. I was struggling to understand how one could count it all joy when temptations come. I like experiencing joy. It is the idea of temptation that often troubles me. The Lord's Prayer says leadeth not into temptation. Why should I want it? When I thought about temptation as a test of determining what is really important laboring to give birth made sense, especially in the light of Jesus impending death. Temptation always asks the question what do I really want and what really wants me. With this in mind I gave myself up to the passage to see what it will birth.

         In the warehouse I work there are all manner of toys and merchandise that anyone might covet as giving joy, not long after wanting the next one. In brown nondescript boxes contain objects with a rainbow of colors, smells and sizes. It is like going into a store and wondering what you will find next. On This particular day I found myself wondering how long it might take to count them. I find myself asking what I really want.

          Life in the world is like one big warehouse. At any given moment I think I have what I long for and then that magical moment passes. The Boston Marathon is a worldwide venue that I long to be a part of someday. Recently I watched the Boston Marathon carnage caused by two bombs going off near the finished line. Limbs and bodies were flying in all directions. Panic set in and much time was spent trying to account for persons injured or dead. It is a reminder that the best the world can do is leave me longing for something that will not last.

         James points us to all that matters. There will always be man made things and desires in a materialistic world. The difference from joy and happiness is joy is to be found in all of life’s trials and temptations. Joy invites temptation (testing) knowing the pain of labor leading to birth is worth it. Joy celebrates that in giving one's life for another, one discovers who gives us joy. We are put to the test (tempted) to see for ourselves this reality at work. That does not mean that it is easy to understand. We our challenged by life's experiences of labor to determine that God want for us joy and welcomes us when we see for ourselves that God is all that matters. When God is all I have got I have all I need.
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