Relying on ourselves works to a certain point. After all, the pain of a hard work-out will bring gains in strength.

When the pain is beyond our ability to endure, relying on God means we understand what the Apostle Paul shared here. He describes the burden of ministry becoming so great that they (the team in Corinth) despaired of life itself.

Because God has the power to raise from the dead, He will deliver those who put their hope in Him. The author of Proverbs reminds us that being humble towards God leads to “fearing” Him (or having a deep reverence) which can bring considerable blessing-riches, honor and life (Proverbs 22:4).

Life is an amazing blessing when you’ve experienced the comfort of God. This comfort can only be understood after an ordeal of suffering (aka grief or loss).

There are times when the suffering is caused by another’s sin and required forgiveness. In Tim Keller’s book on forgiveness***, he proposed the idea of carrying the pain of a “forgiven” sin for another when you choose to actually forgive them.

How opposite of “Western world” values, we should not have to carry that stinking load for an unworthy, ungrateful soul. On the other hand, isn’t that what our Savior did for all of us?

Is loss the only way to gain the perspective of Christ’s suffering death and resurrection? Philippians 3:7-11 reminds us of how that works in heaven’s value system.

The excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord may not be a call to watching out for me, myself and I but it is a call to receiving the comfort that goes deeper than our ability to cope. #relyingontheOnewhohasresurrectionpower

Let’s comfort others by first of all allowing God’s comfort to reach us deeply, to our inner core. He longs to find us right where we love and live. -Teresa #allowHimtocomfortyou #prayforthosesuffering

2 Corinthians 1:1-11 ESV *

Greeting

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

To the church of God that is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia:

² Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

God of All Comfort

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,⁴ who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. ⁵ For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.^{[a] 6} If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. ⁷ Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

⁸ For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers,^[b]of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. ⁹ Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. ¹⁰ He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. ¹¹ You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.Read full chapter

*** “Forgive: Why Should I and How Can I?” Book by Timothy Keller

Footnotes

1. 2 Corinthians 1:5 Or For as the sufferings of Christ abound for us, so also our comfort abounds through Christ
2. 2 Corinthians 1:8 Or brothers and sisters. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, the plural Greek word adelphoi (translated “brothers”) may refer either to brothers or to brothers and sisters

*OneyearBibleonline

**no-pain-no-gain-9AKBN27.jpg; Pexels.com