Prepare: We are comforted when we comfort others.
Read: 2 Corinthians 1:1-11
We live in a hurting world. Actions and reactions of others, adverse circumstances, strained relationships and their factors hurt us deeply. We carry the hurts within us, unable to heal. Paul lived in circumstances same as ours. How did he manage to be a witness in a hurting world?
God is the source of comfort: Our God is a merciful God. Paul has experienced the comfort of God many times. God comforts us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We care comforted because of the sufferings of Jesus. Comfort is not the removal of suffering. It is not the assurance that everything will have a happy ending on earth. We experience comfort in spite of sufferings because of our living relationship to God through Jesus Christ.
Suffering is the path to comfort: Paul in spite of his dedication to God and commitment to the ministry, underwent suffering. Paul here speaks about a specific suffering which was very intensive. His suffering was not an expression of God's punishment. He asserts that suffering was the sign that he was truly serving God. God reveals Himself in the context of suffering as the God of comfort. We do not understand God as the source of our comfort, if we do not undergo suffering. Once we experience God's comfort,we become a source of comfort to others.
Respond: Make me O Lord, a source of comfort to others who live around me in this hurting world.
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