Comforted!

Comforted!

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.

2 Corinthians 1:3‭-‬4 KJV

What an Introduction: This is the God who is the Father of our Saviour Jesus Christ. This is not a general god, one of many that the world would want you to believe. This is not the god without identity or a name, but the Almighty, Creator and Father, and many more, all rolled in one. This is the God who calls us to Himself, asking us to seek Him out on His own terms, not based on what people say. Have I met this God, or do I still hold on to other false options?

I have also heard people ask how a mere mortal man bless the undeniably immortal God? Well, meet the God who delights in hearing us praise Him. He does NOT have an inferiority complex; He just enjoys relating with us. The 'bless' referred to here is a recognition by man of the amazing favour of God. It is a reminder to be daily grateful for all I have received. It is an eulogy: speech or piece of writing that praises someone or something highly. Can I then say that my present lifestyle is a fitting eulogy to God, and can people really meet God through me? 

It is this relationship of father and son that underscores the victory that Jesus has over sin and the world. This relationship didn't keep him from death and suffering by way of the cross, because it was through all these sacrifices that we also stand in right stead with God. God thought it wise to make the author of our salvation perfect through suffering, and he tasted death for us, so we could receive the full life that His own life has now secured for us.

Just as His relationship didn't keep him from the penalty of sin, so we also cannot gamble with our relationship with God by toying with sin. God kept his Son through the pain, because there was a glory that was ahead, after suffering. God is called a God of comfort, which is what is offered after tough times. Nowhere does God promise that he will take all the challenges away, but His promise of comfort is all that you will ever need to face and conquer the coming storms. 

No wonder the relationship is mentioned first, before the things God gives. He is the Father of our Lord Jesus, then the Father of mercies and then the God of all comfort. Would I seek God only for the things I can get from Him, or do I seek Him for who He is first and foremost? It matters what my priority is, as this would determine my staying power when the day of trouble comes.

And because my heart and priorities are right, I can extend the same grace I have received to other people. You see, you can only give what you have yourself received from God. If you have never sought God, how do you lay hold of what He is or what he gives? The comfort God gives isn't the type that you can keep to yourself. You cannot hide it, because it will fill you up first, then flow out of you. 

What do you think was so amazing about the apostles in Acts that made the people of their time call them crazy? They were ordinary unschooled men, but the fact that they had been with Jesus shone through their lives and couldn't be hidden. Oh, men are hurting, looking for meaning in the mundane things of life. Nothing of this life can provide that meaning, because nothing of this life can give the comfort the God of our Saviour Jesus Christ can provide.  And we were not given this comfort  so we could hoard it or dispense it as a favour, but to be representatives of Christ to the hurting world around us.

I believe the only question that matters then is: WHO have you come to know? It is the WHO that determines WHAT you get and WHAT you can give out. Sort out the source and the overflow will work itself out. Jus time of favour is here.