7-6-2019

Good Morning All,

1 Thessalonians 4:18; “So then, comfort each other with these words!”

    The gift of giving comfort is a remarkable gift.  Some just know how to do it; some learn it.  We usually learn it the best when we experience life as this passage describes.  We experience some pain in life and we are comforted by someone who has experienced a similar event earlier.  The person who most often gives the greatest comfort at the time of the death of a spouse is someone who has already lost a spouse.  The person who offers the greatest comfort at the time of illness is someone who has experienced that same illness.  But we can all offer comfort for we have all experienced some pain somewhere along the way and received comfort.  We have all been touched and comforted by someone who, to us at that time, was the “mask of God”.  We thought it was a neighbor or a friend but it was God working through that person to comfort you.

    Our verse is part of a longer passage where Paul is offering comfort to the believers in Thessalonica who were worried about their loved ones who had died.  Some early Christians believed that they would not die before Jesus returned; when they did, their loved ones wondered what it meant.  Paul offers comfort with the words of Jesus and the hope of the resurrection of the dead when Christ returns.  It is this same hope that we cling to today.  It is to build each other up when something bad, in this case death, occurs to a Christian.  Our hope, our comfort is always in Jesus.

    This is why God wants us to always be ready to offer comfort.  It may be in the form of a hug or a kind word; it might just be that being present without a word spoken brings that sense of comfort.  In that way, we are the “mask of God”; the people will see you but it is God, through His Spirit in you that is reaching out to offer this person comfort.  Jesus told his disciples that the Father would “send the Comforter to them”.  This Comforter, the Holy Spirit, works through the redeemed children of God to bring comfort to each other and to this lost world which so desperately needs to be comforted.

   So, as we look back on what God has done in our lives, it should help to strengthen our faith for what God will continue to do into the future.  While God does not promise us a life without difficulties; He does promise that He will always be with us.  We should never place conditions on the comfort that we give for God places no conditions on the comfort that we receive.  Always remember that our ultimate comfort is knowing that someday we will be with God for eternity.

God of all comfort, we often fall short of bringing peace and comfort to this world; forgive us when we fail.  Give us courage and confidence to be a comforter to those around us; especially those who we know and see are hurting.  Do not let us walk by but break our hearts and move us with compassion to love those who you have called your own especially the least of these my brothers.  In the Precious Name of Jesus we pray,  Amen        

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret