COLLINS COLUMN: Comfort and Community

W hen shopping for a new sofa or chair, we often look for one that is comfortable. I suppose there are some who buy a chair because it “looks” right in the room, but chairs are meant for sitting, so who really wants to sit in or offer a guest to sit in an uncomfortable chair!

The marketers know we want comfort. Think for a minute about how many different ways comfort is offered to us. Besides the pursuit of the comfortable chair or sofa, there are so many products that promise comfort:

· Cars

· Money or retirement accounts

· Clothes and shoes

· Eye masks, sound machines, anti-snoring devices, mattresses

The more you think about it, the more you realize how much of our time and lives we spend wanting to be comfortable. But the truth is that we often live in or are going through things that are uncomfortable. In the middle of moments or times of struggle, we might think we are alone or that suffering is unique to us, but that is never the case.

When the apostle Paul wrote 2 Corinthians, he started his letter differently than almost all of his other letters. As with most of Paul’s letters, he identified himself and then prayed for the reader to experience grace and peace from God the Father and from his son Jesus. Paul opened 2 Corinthians the same way. In most of his other letters, Paul goes into a comment of how much he thanks God for the reader. While we know Paul loved the church in Corinth, he departed from offering thanksgiving for the saints and jumped into a discussion of comfort.

Paul, both here and elsewhere in his letters, clearly states that followers of Christ will experience suffering. In fact, verse five says, “We share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings.” But lest we despair Paul continues, “So in Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.” Paul wanted us to understand that Jesus never promised a life of ease. Through Christ’s death, we were granted a full measure of the grace and mercy of God and the promise of eternal life. We were also given the gift of the Holy Spirit and the promise that Jesus would be with us in every step of our life as we journey to our eternal home. Paul makes clear that as we journey, we, like Jesus did on earth, will experience affliction and suffering.

We sometimes forget that our greatest growth comes when we step out of our comfort zone. Our growth comes as we trust God in the difficulty and in the suffering. Our suffering teaches us not to rely on self but rather to completely rely on God. This is where we often struggle the most. We have been taught to rely on self, and this independence can bring hopelessness. We were not created to do it alone.

Paul stressed that not only does Jesus meet us in our suffering, but we are to also look for ways that we can come alongside each other in times of stress and difficulty. So how do we do join someone in their suffering? Here are a few ways we find in scripture:

1) We pray for each other. (v. 11)

2) We remind each other of the many times and ways God has delivered us before. (v. 10)

3) We set our hope in Jesus. (v. 10)

4) Just as Paul did with his letters, we write, text, or call each other to offer encouragement.

5) We come alongside each other, either virtually or in person. Sometimes just having another person present with us during our suffering makes all the difference in the world.

Paul ended this chapter by reminding us that we are established, or grounded, in Christ, and we have been anointed by the Holy Spirit, which is a seal on us that God is with us and will never leave us. When we show up for each other during seasons of stress, we are demonstrating to the one who is suffering physical and spiritual assurance that God is with them.

Father, we confess our tendency to always want to be comfortable. We pray that you would stir our hearts toward growth in Jesus over simple comfort. Thank you for the promise that when we suffer you make yourself immediately available to us to comfort and strengthen us. Thank you for the community of faith you called us to in your church. May we be to each other the presence of Christ today and every day. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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