To hear this Morning Devotion, please click Comforting thoughts
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I am so grateful for the times that God has poured comforting love into my life.
Sometimes He has poured it from the pitcher of godly friends who saw my need for social refreshment.
Sometimes He has poured it from the pitcher of spontaneous intercession with a serious medical need or with the provision of just the right words to share with a married couple on the verge of divorce.
And sometimes He has poured that comforting love into my spirit when He saw that my typically solid backbone of faith was on the verge of cracking because of Satan’s “piling on” efforts.
Yes, it is a tremendous blessing to know that God comforts me.
There is more to that gift of comfort, however, than simply my sense of well-being.
As with all blessings, God’s comfort planted into my life should always be seen as a seed in the garden of my world.
Simply put, God comforts me so that I will pass that kindness onto others.
I am to be a pipeline, not a pot.
A vehicle to be used in everyday life, not a vase to be admired as it sits on the shelf.
When God restores my strength after a bout with sickness, I am to use that strength to help others in the name of the Lord.
When God sends a “just in time” financial blessing that allows me to stop scratching my head and start writing checks, He helps me to keep my promises to vendors who need the money to support their families.
And when God graces me with forgiveness toward a recently committed sin, spiritual comfort results in my soul and spirit. That experience is to remind me of how important it is for me to be just as gracious toward those who offend me.
Never forget that God’s heart beats for every soul, since He is the One who created their hearts and souls.
Though most have turned away from Him, there remains hope for their souls because of the willingness of Christians to share how God has mercifuilly comforted them during times of sin and during times of innocent suffering.
Perhaps you are one who started seeking the Lord after a believer sought you out in order to share a testimony about God’s comforting love.
I share this topic today because of a wonderful passage in today’s One-Year Bible.
“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.” (2 Cor. 1:3-5)
The message in this verse is unmistakable — God comforts us so that we’ll comfort others.
We are ordained to be ambassadors of compassion.
Please reflect on a recent blessing from God that brought you emotional or physical or financial or spiritual comfort. And then honestly assess if you have multiplied that blessing into the life of someone at your workplace or at your congregation or at your school, perhaps even in your home.
Remember the parable of the talents? God doesn’t look favorably upon people who receive a blessing and then do nothing with it to benefit others.
Pass on the comfort, my friend.
God will see and send more comfort your way, I’m sure.
As always, I love you
Martin
