you will be saved through childbearing... huh?

Being a mother is a beautiful feeling.  Giving birth most certainly is not!  I recently gave birth to my second child and did it drug free (why???).  This momentary lapse in judgment resulted in my experiencing the most excruciating pain I have ever felt in my life.  Three hours into contractions, when they were so close I barely caught my breath between them, I found myself mentally cursing Eve.  Why did you do it Eve?  Why?

Almost every woman who has children experiences Eve’s curse; pain in childbirth.  Eve’s curse shows us the destructive nature of sin.  Sin is so destructive that her one sin (oh you know, just a little one; wanting to be like God by eating the forbiddenfruit) threw the beginning of motherhood into chaos for the rest of the world for all time.

The pain of childbirth could be one of the things Paul is hinting at when he says that women are saved through childbearing.  That is; to be reminded again of her sin and need for a saviour through the pain of giving birth.  When a woman experiences labour pains she is reminded of the seriousness of sin; that even “little” sins, like Eve’s, have massive consequences.  And the consequence of our sin is that it caused God Himself to come to earth and suffer and die in order to rescue us from His anger.  Through my child’s birth I was reminded in a tiny way of how much pain He suffered in order to pay for my sin.

So now that my wounds have healed and my sleep is returning I no longer curse Eve, but thank her for reminding me how serious my sin is and how much my saviour did for me.