“May 24, 2024 - Comforted to Comfort”

Thursday, May 23, 2024

Comforted to Comfort

Reading:  2 Corinthians 1:1-7
    
    Paul opens this letter (as the first) with words of kindness and encouragement for the Corinthians, even though he knows all is not well.  Since his last correspondence, he has endured tremendous “affliction”(2 Cor 1:8) yet has emerged from it comforted.  “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God”(2 Cor 1:3-4).  Paul does not blame God for not stopping “all our affliction,” but instead relies on him to give comfort and inner peace as Paul traverses the difficulty.  Why is it that we can endure hardship and slowly adjust to unpleasant circumstances and turns of events?  Paul says that this is part of God’s comfort.

    But Paul is not simply catching the Corinthians up on the news.  His affliction and God’s comfort binds him to the Corinthians.  Since Paul has been comforted, he is “able to comfort those who are in any affliction”(2 Cor 1:3), including the Corinthians.  “If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer”(2 Cor 1:6).  Paul’s harrowing experience is not unique; all Christians suffer in some form for their faith.  Yet Paul emerges from his affliction wiser, stronger, and more at peace—and he can share his perspective with the Corinthians so that they do as well.  It is a chain of comfort:  God comforts Paul, so that Paul can comfort the Corinthians.

    Two powerful ideas emerge here.  One is that God is able to settle our hearts, calm our fears, and give us new hope and direction after our suffering.  This comfort is not just time passing; it is God’s work.  The other is that when God gives us this blessing, he expects us to share that comfort, peace, hope, and strength with others.  We reassure and remind, we sympathize and weep with our brothers, and we together reach out to God for further comfort.  

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One Thing to Think About:  How has God comforted me in my afflictions?

One Thing to Pray For:  The selflessness to comfort my brothers and sisters when they hurt
 

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