Comfort is a state of being at ease. It may be the ease of mental distress or physical pain. It may be falling into a comfy chair in our pajamas at the end of a long day. We seek comfort so much, we now have advertisers using the word “comfy” as titles for shirts or blankets. They do that because the word itself brings feelings and thoughts of our own little world where everything, for that moment, is at peace. While you are reading this, you may be thinking of that favorite place or time, where you feel total comfort.
In II Corinthians chapter 1, Paul begins his address to the Corinthian church by introducing himself and Timothy and then extending God’s grace to them. He then speaks of the comfort that God has extended to them. His mention of comfort from God speaks volumes. He speaks of the comfort they received through tribulations. I think we would all agree that comfort coming from someone who has experienced great tribulations gives validity to the comfort they give others.
II Corinthians 1:3-4 “Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.”
In this passage comfort is the lifting of one’s spirits. Paul instructs us that he gets his comfort from God. There are two lessons in these two verses. First, no matter where we are or what the obstacles are, God is always to be our comfort and He is always there. He should be our first resort. Hebrews 13:5-6 reminds us that He is always there, and because we have that promise and confidence, we are to boldly tell others about our Great God.
Hebrews 13:5-6 “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.”
The second instruction we can learn from II Corinthians 1:3-4 is that we are to take our experiences and comfort others. We should have a get and give mentality. God comforts us so that we can share our experiences and comfort others. Anything God gives us should be used for His glory. A giving of ourselves seems to be lost in modern-day society. Even in Christian circles, people don’t mind sending a text or doing something for someone if they can do it without much effort. We have come to the point it is just easier to go to work and pay someone else to do our comforting and acts of benevolence. Don’t get me wrong, there are times we just can’t handle one more task, but nothing takes the place of personal touches you have done to deliver comfort to someone else.
Paul could not be at Corinth at the time he wrote this letter. He was at Ephesus, but he sent Timothy with a personal letter. It wasn’t a quick, “hear you have problems, praying for you.” No, he shared his wisdom, his experience, and his love with them. He was pouring out his own soul to help them.
Comfort comes in many forms, but the greatest is when someone has taken time to extend themselves to you. Life is not about how easy we can make it on ourselves, but how much of ourselves we can give away to extend comfort to others. However, the only way we can have enough in the bank to extend to others is to be full of the comfort of God ourselves. If you don’t seek Him daily, you will have nothing when you need to share. You will also become bitter because you are not being comforted because you seek the wrong source. Many today want instant comfort. They turn to drugs, alcohol, shopping, eating, and other vices, that bring temporary relief, but only God can extend true comfort to the soul. A comfort that will lie deep within us and stay with us. Knowing God is always with me and knowing ultimately, he is in control brings me great comfort. I know that he knows the end of everything and is always working for my good. Now, that is comfort. This comfort is the easiest to share because it is personal.
God will place many people in our path that need comfort. Our actions of comfort may make the difference in their eternal destiny. Let’s pray for wisdom to be aware of those we can comfort, and the desire to give of our time and resources to comfort others.
