BROADCASTS.com

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 receive from God (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).

What brings you comfort? Sitting in your favourite chair with a good book and a beverage? Watching a movie or TV show that you have seen countless times before? A long, solitary walk in the woods? Hosting best friends for dinner? An afternoon of gardening?

Most of us have things we do which help us relax. Life can cause stress to build up; we need ways to let it go. When stress gets too deep, some of us blow up; others of us turn it inward causing depression or high blood pressure or other forms of illness. When we hurt, we often turn inward, replaying it in our minds, over and over, like a hamster on a wheel. Mining our hurts, we turn them into self pity, bitterness, and other negative attitudes. The ugly becomes uglier. The scars, kept red and raw by repeated scratching, refuse to heal.

The antidote to this endless downward spiral is comfort. Today\u2019s text approaches it from an odd angle, \u201cPraise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort.\u201d \xa0

Compassion and comfort descend from God above before being passed on to hurting folks around us. Here, the vertical and horizontal explored in the previous two devotions, are spelled out clearly. Paul praises God because he brings compassion and comfort to this world and uses us to pass it around. It is one of the key themes of this letter, the Greek word showing up 29 times.

But to understand this well, we need to know what the Bible means by comfort. The things that I mentioned above, the things we often turn to for comfort, help us to relax, take our minds off of the stress and pain of life. There is nothing wrong with these things. They can be helpful. But they are not what the \u2018God of all comfort\u2019 offers us.

In the original languages, comfort has the same root as the words for fortress and fortitude. It is not primarily about feeling better or taking away the hurt or stress, even though that may follow. Rather, it offers strength and resilience. When we encounter bad news our knees buckle. That is why we ask people to sit down when they need to receive difficult information. This kind of comfort encourages people to get back up. We stand along side them and hold them up until they are strong enough to continue on their own.

This is why comfort and compassion are a pair. The comforter can easily become impatient. We tell people they have to get over it, get on with life. To comfort means that we will hold people up as long as they need it. The Holy Spirit is both comforter and the source of power for the Christian. Those two belong together.

Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit will be our comforter. Strangely, the Spirit often used people as his means to comfort others. Real comfort can't be found in a bowl of beef stew or a shot of whiskey or a walk in the woods. When we're hurting, we need someone to come alongside us to provide us with the strength we don't have ourselves. Through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, the church becomes such a community.

This was one of the more difficult issues COVID unleashed on us. How can we comfort one another when we could not be present with each other? But COVID is over. It is time to return vigorously to this essential Christian virtue. It does not require many words. It can begin with a simple question, \u201cWhat can I do for you?\u201d Or even, \u201cWhen I was hurting some one came weekly to clean my house. Would it be helpful if we did that for you?\u201d

Comfort -- a key ingredient for walking \u201cTogether in Faith\u201d!

We move forward with this confidence:

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21).