“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 will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction
with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
5 For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance,
so also our comfort is abundant through Christ.
6 But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation;
or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort,
which is effective in the patient enduring
of the same sufferings which we also suffer;
7 and our hope for you is firmly grounded,
knowing that as you are partners in our sufferings,
so also you are in our comfort.
~~2 Corinthians 1:3-7~~
When I initially read this passage this morning, I saw a list of descriptions of Who God is –
- The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
- The Father of mercies
- The God of all comfort
After I jotted that down, I read on and was struck by a phrase at the end of verse 6, “comfort is effective in the patient enduring of … sufferings“. I paused to ponder that.
What exactly does “comfort that is effective” mean?
What does “the patient enduring of suffering” look like with skin on?
To gain clarity, I looked up some definitions. I started with the word “effective” <energeo> which means, to be active and efficient — it speaks of the person whose mind shows itself active. Wait, what?! The person whose MIND shows itself active! Immediately the Spirit directed me to Colossians 3:2-3,
“Set your MIND on things above, not on earthly things,
for you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God“.
~~Colossians 3:2-3~~
So what does “set your mind” <phroneo> mean? Well, let’s start with looking at its parsing information. It’s active, imperative. Because we are commanded to do this, we know “setting your mind” doesn’t just happen to us. We must be active in the “setting” of the mind. Ok, on to the definition of “set your mind” <phroneo> means to exercise your mind; to be mentally disposed earnestly in a direction; to interest oneself with concern and obedience.
In a devotional I read this morning, the word “lockstep” was used. You’re probably thinking my train of thought has surely jumped the rails, but bear with me This will make sense. When I read “lockstep“, I wasn’t sure what it meant so I consulted “Mr. Webster” and found it to be a mode of marching in step as a body of persons going one after another as closely as possible, in perfect conformity or union.
Ok, back to our definitions (hang in there, I”m going somewhere with this). “Patient enduring”<hypomone> is defined as cheerful and hopeful endurance; constancy; sustaining. So let’s connect the dots between “lockstep” and “patient enduring”.
Comfort is found when your mind is actively looking for God in the midst of your trial, when you are remaining “lockstep” with the Spirit of God.
“If we live by the Spirit, let us also KEEP IN STEP with the Spirit.”
~~Galatians 5:25~~
Earlier in chapter 5 of Galatians, Paul wrote, “So I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” Let’s face it, our flesh is totally me-centered. How does this situation affect ME? But we are commanded to have our mind actively choosing to see things from God’s perspective, even in the midst of hardship.
GOD’S PERSPECTIVE SAYS
God can use all things together for my good and for His glory,
if I am focused on His purposes and not on my own.
GOD’S PERSPECTIVE SAYS
God uses trials and hard times to strengthen and perfect me.
GOD’S PERSPECTIVE SAYS
I know that He who began a good work in me is faithful to complete it.
PAUSE TO PONDER. When Jesus was facing the suffering of the cross, He knew all that was coming. He knew He would suffer both physically and emotionally as He suffered and died for each one of us. But Hebrews 12:2 teaches that “for the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” From a human perspective, “joy” and “cross” don’t belong in the same sentence, but for Jesus, with His mind focused on His future with His Father, “joy” and “cross” worked together to get him through.
Jesus experienced “effective comfort” from the God of all comfort because, while He felt the weight of all He was going through, and while He prayed to the Father that if it was at all possible to let the cup pass from Him, He chose to focus beyond the suffering and see the purpose of God in His circumstances, as well as seeing the future that awaited Him.
THE QUESTION WE HAVE TO ASK OURSELVES IS
“Am I going to experience ‘effective comfort’
by doing the mind work and choosing
God’s perspective over my own?”
We all have feelings when suffering comes our way. So did Jesus. But Jesus didn’t stay in His feelings, He chose to surrender to God’s will over His own emotions.
Jesus had feelings without feelings having Him.
We must do the same.