comfort
It’s always amazing to me how I can read the same passages of scripture a hundred times, and how on about the hundredth time, I see something in it that I didn’t see all the times before.
So I was reading 2 Corinthians, (for about the hundredth time), and a couple of things caught my attention that I hadn’t noticed before. Here’s one:
2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (New International Version)
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.
OK. So I’ve read that a hundred times and thought, wow – praise God because he really is so compassionate, and when I’m in need, he’s always there to comfort me Go God!
But this time, the second half of the sentence caught up with me… “so that” …hmmm… Is this saying God doesn’t comfort me just because he loves me and he is so full of compassion for me in my troubles? Does that mean there’s some other reason for him to always be there for me when I need him?
“…so that we can comfort those in any trouble…”
So God loves me and is full of compassion for me…but he doesn’t comfort me for that reason…he comforts me so that I can comfort others? Arrrggghhh…it’s not all about me…I’m actually expected to DO SOMETHING FOR SOMEONE ELSE with the comfort he has afforded me. So when I’m really troubled (or just having a pity party), and God chooses to bless me with his comfort and compassion, my next step (after thanking him) isn’t to move on with my life…it’s to go help someone else out of his or her own trouble.
Wow – that puts a whole new perspective on it…it’s too bad that it took a hundred times of reading the words before they actually really caught my attention…:)
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