“He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.”
2 Corinthians 1:4
When difficult situations and circumstances come our way, our human tendency is to automatically assume that God is disciplining us for some sort of wrong we’ve done. But what if we looked at the trials and hardships we face in a completely different light? What might it look like for us to see adversity not through our human eyes, but through the lens of Christ? To see them as opportunities to draw nearer to God?
Paul reminded the members of the church in Corinth that, as followers of Christ, one of the most important duties they had was to love and encourage others. So Paul appealed to them to not only empathize with their fellow Christians’ sufferings, but to walk alongside and share with them their own personal experiences of how God comforted and strengthened them when they too had faced similar trials.
When Jesus commissioned The Twelve to go out into the world and share the Gospel, it was not his intention that they would completely forget about each others’ needs. Even while Paul was in prison, he was always corresponding with Timothy and Titus to see how their ministries were going and to encourage them through sharing his own experiences of being comforted and strengthened by God when he was discouraged.
We should never become so distracted in life that we forget about the needs of our brothers and sisters in Christ. This was the gist of Paul’s message in his 2nd letter to the Corinthians, and he would give this same appeal in his 1st letter to the early Christians in Thessalonica.
“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing” (1 Thess. 5:11).
May we be intentional in fostering a community of encouragement, recognizing the transformative impact it has on the lives of our brothers and sisters in Christ. May our words and deeds resonate with kindness, and may we continue to build each other up, just as God intended for us to do.
Think: Is there someone I know who is going through a difficult time in life?
Act: In what ways can I pray for this person?
Do: I’m going to make time today to call this person to check-in and encourage them.
This is what Paul was talking about.
Former Blackout Artist 