Comfort and Suffering (2 Corinthians Series #2)

Have you ever thought that comfort you receive in a difficult time was actually meant to be passed on?

2 Corinthians 1:3-2:11

So are you suffering? God seeks to provide comfort to you through his Word and Spirit and through his children.

I come from a large family. I’m number four of six children, so over the years as my siblings and I got married and started having our own family, we would often pass on clothing to each other's kids. My daughters in particular would be very excited when a bag of used clothes came from my sister's older children. Often there would be a fashion parade of outfits they would show us. And even now, my daughters sometimes pass on clothes to their cousins.

But have you ever thought that comfort you receive in a difficult time was actually meant to be passed on. Have a listen to Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 2:3-7

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 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. 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.

The comfort we receive from God is to be passed on to others who are suffering. We feel each other's pain and we also share in each other's comfort. So are you suffering? God seeks to provide comfort to you through his Word and Spirit and through his children.

If you are receiving God’s comfort and the comfort of others, pass it on. Be a blessing to those who are suffering because you know what it is to suffer. Pass it on.

God bless.

Pastor Stephen