Monday 21 October, 2013

2 Comments/in /by

2 Corinthians 1:1-11

1 I, Paul, am writing this letter. I am an apostle of Christ Jesus just as God planned. Timothy our brother joins me in writing. We are sending this letter to you, the members of God’s church in Corinth. It is also for all of God’s people everywhere in Achaia. 2 May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. 3 Give praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! He is the Father who gives tender love. All comfort comes from him. 4 He comforts us in all our troubles. Now we can comfort others when they are in trouble. We ourselves have received comfort from God. 5 We share the sufferings of Christ. We also share his comfort. 6 If we are having trouble, it is so that you will be comforted and renewed. If we are comforted, it is so that you will be comforted. Then you will be able to put up with the same suffering we have gone through. 7 Our hope for you remains firm. We know that you suffer just as we do. In the same way, God comforts you just as he comforts us. 8 Brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the hard times we suffered in Asia Minor. We were having a lot of trouble. It was far more than we could stand. We even thought we were going to die. 9 In fact, in our hearts we felt as if we were under the sentence of death. But that happened so that we would not depend on ourselves but on God. He raises the dead to life. 10 God has saved us from deadly dangers. And he will continue to do it. We have put our hope in him. He will continue to save us. 11 You must help us by praying for us. Then many people will give thanks because of what will happen to us. They will thank God for his kindness to us in answer to the prayers of many.

Paul begins his 2nd letter to the Corinthians by talking about comfort.  Comfort in the midst of all the hard times for the Gospel. He uses the word comfort 10 times in these paragraphs and gives us a picture of receiving comfort from God so that we can then be a comfort to others in similar situations.  Coming to God then going to others.  One version I read says that he felt “so utterly and unbearably crushed” v8 … What an amazing example Paul is, in some situation of his ministry of the Gospel he felt so utterly and unbearably crushed yet he went to God and not away from Him.  He did not give up, he did not throw it all in but he grew.

I’m afraid I’ve missed this many times and gone to others first.  I have missed the comfort & support I needed from God and valuable insights to then help others.

Jesus, help me to be wiser in seeking comfort from you first and foremost for whatever situation I’m going through, you are the only one who knows me completely and knows what I need in each circumstance.  Jesus, I want to grow, help me to grow in seeking you first in all things.

Written by Suzie Hodgson

 

2 replies
  1. Andrew Mellor says:

    This is a great reminder for me to find comfort in God, not just wisdom and strength, but peace and comfort. I think it helps me see that feeding my natural urges such as hunger and thirst can only help me to some degree, only God can bring comfort to an utterly crushed spirit

  2. David Newton says:

    We live in a society that provides comfort in an almost infinite variety of ways, generally for a price. For many nonbelievers and even some believers the result of chasing comfort outside of God is addiction and enslavement.

    I am pleased to be in a church that practices fasting!

    Both Suzie and Andrew have made very personally relevant observations that I will be thinking about for a good while.

    Thanks!

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