Taking a Closer Look at Motherhood - The Crosswalk Devotional - May 12
Taking a Closer Look at Motherhood
By Lynette Kittle
Bible Reading:
“A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born, she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world” John 16:21
Motherhood has taken a hit over the years, with women’s careers and educational pursuits taking the forefront, along with abortion, convincing women that being a mother isn’t worth the time, effort, or cost it takes to carry, birth, and care for a child.
Of course, without mothers, we would not experience life, except Adam and Eve, the only people in Earth's history to enter life without one.
Genesis 1:27 explains how they came to life. “So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.”
Since then, even if babies are created in a Petri dish or test tube, they’ve needed a woman to make it possible. Even Jesus came to earth through a mother, because that’s how God designed humanity to multiply.
Motherhood’s Curse
Because of the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, sin brought with it a curse affecting childbirth. As Genesis 3:16 describes, “To the woman He said, ‘I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, who will rule over you.”
Because of the pain and suffering attached to giving birth, some women opt out of carrying a child, afraid to experience the pain and discomfort associated with it, some fearful of the bodily changes that occur with new life growing within one’s body.
More and more mothers today are finding surrogates to bear the brunt of childbirth risks for them, some for health and infertility reasons and concerns, others so that carrying a child doesn’t interfere with their careers or affect their physical appearance.
Motherhood’s Gift
Even though motherhood comes with a curse, it also comes as a gift. 1 Timothy 2:15 explains, “But women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love, and holiness with propriety.”
God, the Giver of all life, created motherhood, entrusting women with the pain and joy of bearing children and placing His blessing upon the process. Genesis 1:28 explains, “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and every living creature that moves on the ground.”
Although humanity has found various ways around the natural process of baby making, “Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from Him” (Psalm 127:3).
No matter how humans attempt to create new life, God is still the Giver of Life. He knows and forms babies, giving them life, regardless of how humans discover how to orchestrate their beginnings.
God told the prophet Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5).
He is the only life source for humanity. “Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7).
However babies are conceived, God still forms them and breathes life into their tiny bodies. As Psalm 139:13 describes, “For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb.”
Science and technology, as powerful as they may seem, cannot bring life into this world without God because it isn’t possible without His hand and His design for the creation of life.
Intersecting Faith & Life
Are you struggling with the idea of motherhood and how life is created? If so, look to God’s word for clarification. Or, if you unconventionally came into this world, don’t let it deter you from the fact that God created you, not science or technology. He is the one who formed you and gave you life.
Further Reading:
A Prayer to Treasure the Sanctity of Life
Photo Credit: © Getty Images/Jacoblund
Lynette Kittle is married with four daughters. She enjoys writing about faith, marriage, parenting, relationships, and life. Her writing has been published by Focus on the Family, Decision, Today’s Christian Woman, kirkcameron.com, Ungrind.org, StartMarriageRight.com, and more. She has a M.A. in Communication from Regent University and serves as associate producer for Soul Check TV.
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