The header image comes from the packaging of a bean bag which arrived only one hour after I had decided on the title of today’s post so it was interesting to see the slogan “Comfort Comes As Standard”. Bean bags bring back a lot of memories for me as a kid so I’m super excited to try this out and give our recreation room an old-school look and feel!
True Comfort
The final chapter of a long-running affliction in my life was very recently completed. I feel relief and have regained some freedom, confidence, and a better hope for the future. Through it all, there have been dark days and long nights but God has been faithful all along. He’s brought comfort in the midst of suffering, he’s taught me so much about forgiveness, leadership, and his neverending love.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 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 Corinthians 1:3-4)
So that…
Whenever we see “so that” in scripture, it is a good place to pause and pay even closer attention. Oftentimes this reveals “the why”.
While God does bring us comfort, we need to remember that it is never “all about us”. He didn’t bring comfort for my sake only, he comforted me so that I could know him and be more like him, and therefore I too am called to comfort others in their afflictions. Who will you comfort today?
Similar to comforting others as God comforts us, we are called to forgive others. It is part of God’s perfect economy. Jesus didn’t die for just my sin but the sin of all mankind, the sin of the monsters and those whom we might call “good people”. Who will you forgive today?
This is also a reminder that if our priority is comfort-seeking, we may find it however earthly comfort is fleeting. If we first seek God’s kingdom and his ways, and do his will, only then do we find everlasting comfort.
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (Matthew 6:33)
Today’s reading: Isaiah 60-63; 2 Corinthians 1