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. vv.3-4
Read chapter 1
Is there a word that stood out to you after reading this chapter? Was it the word comfort? The word comfort is repeated more in 2 Corinthians than any other book in the New Testament (29 times total and 10 of those times in this chapter alone). The Greek word is paraklesis and is defined as "encouragement, exhortation, comfort or as Strong's Concordance puts it: an "intimate call" that someone personally gives to deliver God's verdict. (I love that definition!) It is also the same word use for the Holy Spirit in the gospel of John 14-16.
Today people look for comfort in chocolate, alcohol, sex with someone who's not their spouse, movies, drugs. These all may meet our comfort need for a short time, but they are only quick fixes that can lead to bigger problems later. Yet God is the "Comforter of comforters," and I'm not talking about the best blanket to cuddle under. He gives us the strength to face our troubles not just a rub on the back or a toy to distract us.
Even the definition of the word encouragement is powerful. For we all need encouragement the weak and the strong. "In fact, discouragement seems to attack the successful far more than the unsuccessful; for the higher we climb, the farther down we can fall (Wiersbe, Warren W.. Be Encouraged). And we see how encouragement helped Paul in all his missions. And it's by comfort and encouragement we receive from others that we can in turn do the same for others.
So who or what do you look to for comfort? Who can you give encouragement to personally? And how have you been encouraged or comforted recently by others and by God?
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