Galatians 4:19. my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you!
Think together: Have you ever seen a mom who is pregnant (she has a baby inside her tummy)? What do you think makes being a pregnant momma hard?
Read together: Galatians 4:19 is a pretty strange verse. Paul is a man, but he says that he feels like a mom who is having a baby. Ask your mom if having you was hard. I bet she says, YES! Having a baby is never easy for a mom. But because the mom loves her baby, she goes through the hardship of having a baby. Paul loves the Galatians like a mom loves her baby. That’s what he is saying in Galatians 4:19. The Christians in Galatia are like little spiritual babies. They don’t know what is true and what is a lie yet. And so, they have been easily tricked into believing that they have to earn their way to God by being good.
But that is not true, is it? How do we get to God? That’s right, we get to God only by trusting that Jesus lived for us and died for our sins. When we simply trust in Jesus, we get to go to God. Think about a baby inside of a mommy’s tummy. Do you think that baby is trying really hard to grow? No! That baby is simply receiving everything that it needs from its momma, and then the growing part happens naturally, as God designed it. Being a Christian is a lot like that. Like that baby, we receive what we need from God, and then that love and kindness from God makes us grow.
Like I said, this verse is a bit strange. When Paul says “Christ is formed in you,” he is imagining a baby inside of its momma’s tummy, growing and growing until it is ready to be born. Paul is saying that that is what Jesus is doing inside of us. When we trust in Jesus, He comes to live in our hearts. But He comes to us small and has to grow in us. As Jesus grows in us, we become more and more like Him.
Now remember, Jesus isn’t actually living in you physically like a baby in a mommy. He’s living in you spiritually, by the Holy Spirit. But He is growing inside of your heart and your mind. As you learn about Jesus and learn to trust Jesus more and more, your love for Him grows bigger and bigger. This means that you will trust Him more and more. In this way, it is like Jesus is growing inside of your heart, and you are becoming more like Him.
Do something together: Look at any pictures you have of when your kids were babies. Talk about: Did you try hard to grow when you were a baby, or did you just receive what you needed to grow? Jesus in our hearts is the same.
Because of Jesus: We have his love inside of our hearts.
With Jesus: We can grow to be like him.
Pray: Father, keep causing me to grow up to be like Jesus by simply trusting that he is always giving me what I need. Amen.
