4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort. IICor. 1:4-7 We have seen that the Christian life often involves suffering because of our identity with Christ. Christ who was perfect suffered and He states in John 16:33 that we will also suffer tribulation in this world, but even in those tribulations we would find peace in Him. This passage teaches us when we go through suffering we should learn from the experience and reflect upon how Christ brought us through it so we can share in this blessing with others that suffer. Suffering is viewed as a stewardship in life. We learn through difficult situations and then we are to reach out and supply what we have learned with others that go through suffering in their life. God’s design for the Christian is that we learn more about how to relate to both life and God through life experiences and the teaching of the Word of God. This learning process should cause us to mature in life and in time become more “Christ like” in our lives. As we become more like our master we should then seek to minister this into the lives of others as they go through suffering in life. As he states in verse 7 “And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.” Contrary to much of what is taught today in Christianity, becoming more spirituality mature is not so we can boast and testify to how God is blessing our life as compared to others. While there is nothing wrong with testifying as to what God has done for us, it should not become a source of pride or “one-up-man-ship” in relation to other people. It should result in our growth so we can better minister to others in their time of need. Previously in I Cor. 12:26-27 Paul says if one member of the body is suffering then all members suffer with them. What he is saying is if someone is going thorough a difficult time we should so identify with then that it pains us also. Having suffered ourselves, we know how we want this pain to pass, so we reach out to comfort our suffering brother with the same comfort God shared with us. Often times what we learn through suffering is not why we suffered but how we were able to endure through faith when we suffered. This learning experience is so we can reach out to others and bring comfort in their lives. Help them with spiritual insight as to what helped us through the difficulty we faced. This is a far cry from much of modern Christianity which identifies blessings as mostly physical or monetary in nature. Instead of trying to display ourselves as having more because “God has blessed us”, we should be more Christ like and seek to serve their lives of our brothers and sisters when they need help. Your suffering is unique in some ways, but it is common to all believers also. Through these experiences in life we can reach out to comfort others that need help. Who do you know that has been through a situation similar to yours? Reach out to them today and let them know you care.
Posted on: Sun, 29 Sep 2013 12:02:38 +0000
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