Pets and God: Comfort Given, Comfort Shared
Daily Scripture
2 Corinthians 1:3-7
3 May the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ be blessed! He is the compassionate Father and God of all comfort. 4 He’s the one who comforts us in all our trouble so that we can comfort other people who are in every kind of trouble. We offer the same comfort that we ourselves received from God. 5 That is because we receive so much comfort through Christ in the same way that we share so many of Christ’s sufferings. 6 So if we have trouble, it is to bring you comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is to bring you comfort from the experience of endurance while you go through the same sufferings that we also suffer. 7 Our hope for you is certain, because we know that as you are partners in suffering, so also you are partners in comfort.
Daily Reflection & Prayer
Pet lovers often talk about their pet’s capacity to offer comfort when they are sad, and there is research that supports the value of that. Today’s reading reflects a very trying experience the apostle Paul went through (cf. 2 Corinthians 1:8-11). The Corinthian Christians, people he’d won to Christ, had been seriously at odds with him for a time (cf. 2 Corinthians 7:7-13). There’s no evidence he had a pet, but it would have helped. He did have God, and he used the word “comfort” nine times in just five verses in today’s reading!
- Paul said God comforts us. Scholar William Barclay said, “Comfort in the New Testament always means far more than soothing sympathy. Always it is true to its root meaning, for its root is the Latin fortis and fortis means brave. Christian comfort is the comfort which brings courage and enables a [person] to cope with all that life can do.” * When has God, or one of God’s people, given you new courage by the comfort you received? (To see the main people Resurrection has, across all locations, to offer you comfort as needed, go to www.resurrection.church/care.)
- Paul strikingly did not describe “comfort” just in terms of what he received. Instead, he wrote, “We offer the same comfort that we ourselves received from God…. if we have trouble, it is to bring you comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is to bring you comfort.” How have you seen people use their own hard experiences to shape them into a source of comfort and courage for others? In what ways could you pass on the comfort you have received?
Prayer
Compassionate God, thank you for the times you have strengthened me and given me new courage. Make me the kind of person whose caring strengthens others. Amen.
GPS Insights
Rylan Nelson
Rylan Nelson, currently serving as a finance intern at the Leawood location under Rachel Svaty, wrote today's insights. Rylan is entering his senior year at Kansas State University, where he is pursuing a degree in accounting and is scheduled to graduate with his undergraduate degree this December. He is involved in various roles, including Vice President of Finance for Beta Alpha Psi and Secretary for the Mortar Board National College Honor Society.
Many of us need comfort during these troubling times. It is easy to get drawn into negativity about the devastating floods, political division, and conflict across the country, and wonder if there is any good in the world. We feel more isolated and divided than ever, thanks to the rise of social media and the Internet. Even in times like this, it is through God that we can find comfort for ourselves.
It is essential to connect with God to find comfort and healing. When I was little, I would always find comfort and happiness through swinging on my swing set. My dad would always push me on the swing while playing music from the 2000’s (like Maroon 5, Lifehouse, Train, and Coldplay). I was also introduced to Legos at that time, which blew me away with the different ways you could build things. To this day, I still build Lego sets, as it gives me comfort.
Our pets, hobbies, family, or friends, we can all bring us comfort, because they are all parts of God and his creation. He knows how to provide you comfort during troubling times, and we can find peace through that. In today’s passage, the word “comfort” is mentioned nine times. Finding things that make you happy and bring you comfort allows you to connect closely to God and live a joyful, thankful, and healthier life.
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Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
References
* William Barclay, Daily Study Bible Series: The Letters to the Corinthians (Revised Edition). Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1975, pp. 170-171.
