2 Corinthians 1:3-4
One of the key reasons that I am a minister is because I was and I am captivated by these verses.
I can remember as a teenager having an ‘aha’ moment when I treated these verses as a sort of simultaneous equation.
I said to myself:
a) If God is the God of all comfort
And
b) If we can comfort others in trouble
Then
c) It must mean that when we comfort others we get to be, literally to be, God’s help and comfort.
I remember thinking how amazing it is that God uses our experiences of difficulty and trouble so that we can help others.
And I remember asking, ‘Is there a more exciting job on the planet that to be God’s help and comfort to other people?'
Ken Benjamin
I guess my experience throughout life has been one where I was naturally wanting to comfort people (I trained as a nurse) but had little experience of "real" troubles until in 2011 I was diagnosed with incurable lymphoma. It was then I experienced God's comfort as He extended out to me His comforting arms. He saw me through the rough times and now in remission I feel more able to be used in His service to comfort others. May God have all the glory.
ReplyDeleteI love these verses. God is THE expert comforter and yet He chooses not only to be present with us in our troubles but also to equip us through these times so we can somehow provide His love and presence to others in their times of need. A privilege and a responsibility.
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