How to Comfort Others
“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 receive from God.”
Helping or Hurting?
Have you ever caused more hurt when you sought to help?
I love my wife, one of the main reasons I married her was because she is sold out for Jesus. She is so consistent in her daily time with God that I look up to her! She goes all out too. She’ll set up her Bible, Journal, Devotional guide, multiple pens, and multiple highlighters. She even sometimes lights up a candle to set the atmosphere. One of the big things she does is put on a worship music playlist during this time.
So a little while ago I bought my family a sound bar for our TV. Changed the game in my opinion and it was on sale so it was a win-win! She decided early one morning that she wanted to play her worship music through the soundbar. So she goes to the app and connects to the sound bar and hits play. Nothing happens. She turns up the volume and hits play again. And still, nothing happens. Finally, she turns the volume up to full blast and hits play.
That was when she realized her mistake. You see she could hear the music faintly playing, not from our sound bar…but from our neighbor’s sound bar. She had connected her phone and was blasting music at full volume in our neighbor’s house at 6 o’clock in the morning.
Sometimes what was meant to be a comfort and a blessing can do more harm than good. As Christians, it is vital for us to not just comfort others, but also think about how we comfort others.
The Source of our Help
For example, if I brought you your favorite meal but ended up putting it on a rusted garbage can lid and placed it down in front of you, you would most likely lose your appetite. We need to be careful not to take what God meant to be a blessing and turn it into a curse for someone.
How do you help others? Broadly speaking in the American Church it has been all too easy for us to be more harmful than helpful. What was meant to be a Blessing, ended up as a curse instead. What was meant for comfort, ended up being an affliction. Look what His word says,
“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 receive from God.” — 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
Jesus is the method and motivation for our comfort and the comfort of others. God is the source of all comfort! The reason or purpose for which we’ve been comforted by God is to comfort others. Why? Because our Lord has said,
“It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Acts 20:35.
If this is true—then God is making our Joy complete by giving us the opportunity to bring comfort to others. I believe this—God wants you to be full of Hope and full of Help. He wants to be better today than you were yesterday. He has a plan and purpose for your life. He’s got something good for you and it changes everything. There is powerful joy when we get the opportunity to be a part of God’s works of compassion for people. God can empower you to use both your comfort and your afflictions to comfort others! Meaning, that the suffering we experience isn’t purposeless but instead can be transformed and used for good.
How and Why we can Comfort Others
So how do you comfort others? By being present with them, by serving them through your gifts and talents, and by being consistent in fellowship with them. We can only do this because God is present with us, He is the one who has served us, He is the one who is faithful and consistent and teaches us to be likewise.
Despite the trials and troubles of life, God has given us assurance that He will neither leave us nor abandon us. He brings comfort through His presence, through His people, and through His power. While we may not get every answer to the troubles we face, we can have full confidence that we are not alone in our struggles. God is there with us in the dark moments of fear, in the uncertainty, in the doubt, and He is there with us in the good. There is an infinite amount of good our God can and will do. For His will is perfect and pleasing. He is good and His love endures forever.
