Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Should we Comfort?
“Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.” (Isaiah 40:1-2 NIV)
I made the argument in the last post that only one thing—one person—could comfort perfectly. So should we stop trying to comfort? No. Through the prophet Isaiah, God tells us to comfort his people. I found a beautiful passage in 2 Corinthians that shows how we, too, can be good comforters.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.” (2 Corinthians 1:3-7)
The comfort is still Christ centered; however, the more we trust God and become more unified with Christ, his comfort we experience will overflow to those who, too, need comfort. Which makes sense!
I made the argument in the last post that only one thing—one person—could comfort perfectly. So should we stop trying to comfort? No. Through the prophet Isaiah, God tells us to comfort his people. I found a beautiful passage in 2 Corinthians that shows how we, too, can be good comforters.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.” (2 Corinthians 1:3-7)
The comfort is still Christ centered; however, the more we trust God and become more unified with Christ, his comfort we experience will overflow to those who, too, need comfort. Which makes sense!
# posted by Wesley Son of Cornelius @ 10:20 PM 
