Word for the Week June 16-23
By: Evang. Cascille Hammack
"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 have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives,
so also through Christ our comfort overflows." 2 Cor. 1:3-5
The word "comfort"
in the above scripture in Greek text is "paraklesis" which means to stand beside a person, encouraging and helping
him or her in a time of need. This is what someone who is suffering needs and what is so often not given. But
God is faithful and He sends His Holy Spirit when no one else seems to care. It is through our crushing that God
Himself comforts us by His Holy Spirit. It is only His love that can heal. It is through this that we learn the
compassion of Christ for His children. We understand and feel the pain of others who belong to Christ and suffer when
we ourselves have undergone it. Through our death, His life is manifested in us and poured out to those He reaches out
to through us. We can't know the sufferings of others until we ourselves have entered into that suffering.
Christ suffered all for us and sympathizes with all of our pain. If someone has never known hunger, how can they feel
the pain of one who has? How can we relate to someone who is homeless unless we ourselves have undergone
such painful circumstances. You must feel the suffering of another in order to be the instrument God uses to heal.
As God comforts us in our pain, this same comfort overflows into the lives of those He loves. When you have been
crushed and truly died to yourself, you are then ready to be poured out to comfort those who have any trouble. You are
then fit to be an instrument used in the Master's hand to fulfill the needs of His people and the feeding of His sheep.
When a vessel is broken, the contents are poured out. God breaks us and pours us out again and again so we can
fulfill the work God has for each of us. If we are to love others as we love ourselves, we must enter into their suffering. We
can then comfort them with the comfort that the Lord has poured into us that will overflow into their hearts. As
the love of many in the world grow cold, we are to love as Christ loves. We are His ambassadors here to do His work,
if we truly are in the faith.
