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Comfort Shared

Read: 2 Corinthians 1:1–10 | Bible in a Year: 1 Samuel 4–6; Luke 9:1–17

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Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you. John 20:21

“God sent you to me tonight!”

Those were the parting words from the woman standing in front of me as we exited our flight to Chicago. She had sat across the aisle from me, where I learned she was headed home after several flights in a round-trip that day. “Do you mind if I ask why you had such a quick turnaround?” I inquired. She glanced downward: “I just put my daughter in rehab for drug abuse today.”

In the moments that followed I gently shared the story of my son’s struggle with heroin addiction and how Jesus had set him free. As she listened, a smile broke through her tears. After the plane landed we prayed together before parting, asking God to break her daughter’s chains.

Later that evening I thought of Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 1:3–4: “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.”

All around us are people who need to be encouraged with the comfort only God can give. He wants us to reach out to them with tenderhearted compassion, to share the love He has shared with us. May God send us to those who need His comfort today!

I praise You for Your compassion for us at the cross, Lord! Help me to comfort others with Your kindness and love today.

Watch Geoff Banks’ story at ourdailybread.org/story/geoff.

God’s kindness meets our deepest need.

INSIGHT

We honor the “God of all comfort” (v. 3) when we offer compassion to others. Who needs comfort? Ecclesiastes 4:1 says, “I saw the tears of the oppressed—and they have no comforter; power was on the side of their oppressors—and they have no comforter.” Scripture reminds us that from the victim to the oppressor, everyone needs the comfort God offers.

For further study, check out the free course Soul Care Foundations I at christianuniversity.org/CC201.

Bill Crowder

By |2018-04-06T12:25:52-04:00April 6th, 2018|
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Whispering Words

Read: Ephesians 4:22–32 | Bible in a Year: Deuteronomy 30–31; Mark 15:1–25

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[Build] others up according to their needs. Ephesians 4:29

The young man fidgeted as he sat down for his flight. His eyes darted back and forth to the aircraft windows. Then he closed his eyes and breathed deeply, trying to calm himself—but it didn’t work. As the plane took off, he slowly rocked back and forth. An older woman across the aisle from him put her hand on his arm and gently engaged him in conversation to divert his attention from his stress. “What’s your name?” “Where are you from?” “We’re going to be okay,” and “You’re doing well” were a few things she whispered. She could have been irritated with him or ignored him. But she chose a touch and a few words. Little things. When they landed three hours later, he said, “Thank you so much for helping me.”

Such beautiful pictures of tenderheartedness can be hard to find. Kindness does not come naturally to many of us; our primary concern is often ourselves. But when the apostle Paul urged, “Be kind and compassionate to one another” (Ephesians 4:32), he was not saying it all depends on us. After we’ve been given a new life by our faith in Jesus, the Spirit begins a transformation. Kindness is the ongoing work of the Spirit renewing our thoughts and attitudes (v. 23).

The God of compassion is at work in our hearts, allowing us in turn to touch others’ lives by reaching out and whispering words of encouragement.

 

Lord, use me today to bring someone hope, a lighter burden, encouragement.

Compassion is understanding the troubles of others and reaching out.

INSIGHT

The power of our words is a theme throughout Scripture. The admonition in Ephesians 4:29 is to build each other up through our speech. The book of Proverbs encourages its readers to get a grip on wisdom, and part of wisdom living is the right use of our words. That’s why many Proverbs speak about “words,” “speech,” the “mouth,” and “lips.” Proverbs 10:11 describes the tremendous power of words to invigorate and enrich others: “The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life.”

How can you build someone up today with your words?

By |2018-03-15T16:25:25-04:00March 17th, 2018|
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A “Yes” of Love

Read: 1 John 3:16–24 | Bible in a Year: Exodus 7–8; Matthew 15:1–20

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Let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. 1 John 3:18

On August 21, 2016, Carissa posted photos on social media of a devastating flood in Louisiana. The next morning she included a note from someone in the flooded area pleading for help. Five hours after that, she and her husband, Bobby, sent out a call for others to join them on their 1,000-mile trip to provide help. Less than twenty-four hours later, thirteen people were on their way to serve those whose homes had been severely damaged.

What motivates people to drop everything and drive seventeen hours to move appliances, do demolition work, and provide hope in a place they’ve never been before? It’s love.

Think about this verse, which she posted along with her call for help: “Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this” (Psalm 37:5). This is especially true when we follow God’s call to help. The apostle John said, “If anyone . . . sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?” (1 John 3:17). It may be a daunting task—but we have God’s promise of help when we “do what pleases him” (v. 22).

When a need arises, we can honor God by being willing to offer a “yes” of love to what we sense He is asking us to do for others.

Lord, please open our eyes to the needs of others, open our hearts to those people, and open our hands so we can provide help in the time of need.
We show God’s love when we are willing to help others; we show His strength when we take on the task He gives us to do.

INSIGHT

Like John in today’s passage, James calls us to action, saying our desire to help others arises out of faith: “What good is it . . . if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds?” (James 2:14). If we tell those in need, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed” without first meeting their physical needs, what does that accomplish? He urges, “Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead” (vv. 15–17). John echoes, “How can the love of God be in that person” who “sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them?” (1 John 3:17). Our loving actions flow out of our faith and the empowering love of God inside us.

How might God be calling you to help someone?

Alyson Kieda

By |2018-01-12T08:56:37-05:00January 23rd, 2018|
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The Power of Empathy

Read: Hebrews 2:14–18; 13:1–3 | Bible in a Year: Ezekiel 35–36; 2 Peter 1

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Remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison. Hebrews 13:3

Put on the R70i Age Suit and you immediately feel forty years older as you experience impaired vision, hearing loss, and reduced mobility. The Age Suit was designed to help caregivers better understand their patients. Wall Street Journal correspondent Geoffrey Fowler wore one and wrote, “The unforgettable, and at times distressing, experience shed light not just on aging, but also how virtual reality equipment can teach empathy and shape our perceptions of the world around us.”

Empathy is the power to understand and share the feelings of another. During a time of severe persecution against the followers of Jesus, the writer of Hebrews urged fellow believers to “continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering” (13:3).

This is exactly what our Savior has done for us. Jesus was made like us, “fully human in every way . . . that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted” (2:17–18).

Christ the Lord, who became like us, calls us to stand with others “as if [we] were together with them” during their time of need.

Lord Jesus, we marvel at Your willingness to share our flesh and blood in order to purchase our salvation. Give us grace to stand with others who are in need today.
Jesus calls us to stand with others as if we were in their place.

INSIGHT

Hebrews 2:17–18 tell us that Jesus had to take all human suffering and sin upon Himself to both understand and heal humanity. But is it possible for each of us to truly empathize and help believers who are suffering? Hebrews suggests “yes,” noting that the church is the family of God (2:10–14; 13:1). In a loving family, emotional ties are so strong that when another family member suffers, everyone suffers right with them (13:3). Similarly, Paul argues that because believers are united in Christ as one body through His Spirit, when anyone suffers, everyone is affected (1 Cor. 12:26). Yet the church’s uniquely powerful love should also be extended to “strangers” outside the church (Heb. 13:2), for each believer was loved by God while still an outsider (Rom. 5:8).

How does strengthening relationships within the church enable more effective outreach to those outside the faith?

Monica Brands

By |2017-11-14T11:39:10-05:00November 29th, 2017|
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Being Human Beings

Read: 1 Peter 2:11–17; 3:8–9 | Bible in a Year: Ezekiel 24–26; 1 Peter 2

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All of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. 1 Peter 3:8

When asked to define his role in a community that was sometimes uncooperative with law enforcement, a sheriff didn’t flash his badge or respond with the rank of his office. Rather he offered, “We are human beings who work with human beings in crisis.”

His humility—his stated equality with his fellow human beings—reminds me of Peter’s words when writing to first-century Christians suffering under Roman persecution. Peter directs: “All of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble” (1 Peter 3:8). Perhaps Peter was saying that the best response to humans in crisis is to be human, to be aware that we are all the same. After all, isn’t that what God Himself did when He sent His Son—became human in order to help us? (Phil. 2:7).

Gazing only at the core of our fallen hearts, it’s tempting to disdain our human status. But what if we consider our humanness to be part of our offering in our world? Jesus teaches us how to live fully human, as servants recognizing we are all the same. “Human” is how God made us, created in His image and redeemed by His unconditional love.

Today we’re sure to encounter folks in various struggles. Imagine the difference we might make when we respond humbly—as fellow humans who work together with other humans in crisis.

Father, help us to be humble as we respond to one another, human being to human being.
Humility is the result of knowing God and knowing yourself.

INSIGHT

Have you noticed that when people receive a great honor for their accomplishments they often acknowledge their humble roots? Even legendary athletes admit that they were just an everyday kid from somewhere—just like us.

Peter sees how important it is for those who know they are God’s representatives to remember who they were. In recognizing their high honor (1 Peter 2:9), Peter urges followers of Christ to remember that once they had no sense of belonging to God; once they had not received mercy (2:10). Later in the same letter he reminds those who are leaders among the Lord’s people to recognize their own accountability to God and not to lord it over those entrusted to their care (5:3).

At best we are all common folks from somewhere who have been called to love others as God has loved us.

For further study see the Discovery Series booklet The Mind of Christ at discoveryseries.org/q0209.

Mart DeHaan

By |2017-11-14T09:47:27-05:00November 25th, 2017|
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The Hand of Comfort

Read: 2 Corinthians 1:3–7 | Bible in a Year: Jeremiah 48–49; Hebrews 7

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Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, . . . who comforts us in all our troubles. 2 Corinthians 1:3–4

“Patient is combative,” the nurse’s notes read.

What she didn’t realize until later was that I was having an allergic reaction as I awakened after a complicated open-heart surgery. I was a mess, with a tube down my throat. My body began shaking violently, straining against the straps on my arms, which were there to keep me from suddenly pulling out my breathing tube. It was a frightening and painful episode. At one point, a nurse’s assistant to the right side of my bed reached down and simply held my hand. It was an unexpected move, and it struck me as especially gentle. I began to relax, which caused my body to stop shaking so badly.

Having experienced this with other patients, the nurse’s assistant knew that a hand of comfort could minister to me as well. It was a vivid example of how God uses comfort when His children suffer.

Comfort is a powerful and memorable tool for any caregiver, and Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 1:3–4 it’s an important part of God’s toolbox. Not only that, but God also multiplies the impact of His comfort by calling us to use the memory of the comfort He gives us to comfort others in similar situations (vv. 4–7). It is but another sign of His great love; and one we can share with others—sometimes in the simplest of gestures.

Thank You, Father, for the comfort You provide to us, either directly or through the acts of Your children. Help us to see where we can apply that same comfort to others in and for Your name.

Simple gestures can bring powerful comfort.

INSIGHT

This passage demonstrates how our personal pain can help others who suffer. Paul uses the word comfort both vertically and horizontally. God extends comfort to us, then we can offer comfort to others. In this way, our pain can become a conduit of care for those in distress and lead to gratitude in the midst of pain. “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort” (2 Cor. 1:3).

Can you think of a time when God used others to encourage and comfort you?

Dennis Fisher

By |2017-10-19T15:29:12-04:00November 10th, 2017|
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Jesus in Disguise

Read: Matthew 25:31–40 | Bible in a Year: Jeremiah 3–5; 1 Timothy 4

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Whatever you did for one of the least of these . . . you did for me. Matthew 25:40

When a friend cared for her housebound mother-in-law, she asked her what she longed for the most. Her mother-in-law said, “For my feet to be washed.” My friend admitted, “How I hated that job! Each time she asked me to do it I was resentful, and would ask God to hide my feelings from her.”

But one day her grumbling attitude changed in a flash. As she got out the bowl and towel and knelt at her mother-in-law’s feet, she said, “I looked up, and for a moment I felt like I was washing the feet of Jesus Himself. She was Jesus in disguise!” After that, she felt honored to wash her mother-in-law’s feet.

When I heard this moving account, I thought of Jesus’s story about the end of time that He taught on the slopes of the Mount of Olives. The King welcomes into His kingdom His sons and daughters, saying that when they visited the sick or fed the hungry, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Matt. 25:40). We too serve Jesus Himself when we visit those in prison or give clothes to the needy.

Today, might you echo my friend, who now wonders when she meets someone new, “Are you Jesus in disguise?”

Lord Jesus Christ, You can transform the most mundane of tasks. Help me to love others in Your name.

When we serve others, we serve Jesus.

INSIGHT

Matthew 25:31–40 is a powerful reminder of Jesus’s care for those who are hurting. In fact, since the “least of these” (v. 40) in Matthew consistently refers to followers of Jesus (see 10:42; 18:6), the passage implies we are likely to find true believers in Jesus in circumstances of great suffering. Those who are not in such suffering are judged on their willingness to serve and join with those who are. When they do, they encounter Jesus Himself (v. 40). 

When have you most strongly experienced the presence of Jesus through being with someone who was suffering?

Monica Brands

By |2017-10-05T12:51:09-04:00October 24th, 2017|
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Divine Interruptions

Read: Luke 18:35–43 | Bible in a Year: Isaiah 20–22; Ephesians 6

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Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” “Lord, I want to see,” he replied.  Luke 18:40–41

Experts agree that a staggering amount of time is consumed each day by interruptions. Whether at work or at home, a phone call or an unexpected visit can easily deflect us from what we feel is our main purpose.

Not many of us like disruptions in our daily lives, especially when they cause inconvenience or a change of plans. But Jesus treated what appeared to be interruptions in a far different way. Time after time in the Gospels, we see the Lord stop what He is doing to help a person in need.

While Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem where He would be crucified, a blind man begging by the side of the road called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Luke 18:35–38). Some in the crowd told him to be quiet, but he kept calling out to Jesus. Jesus stopped and asked the man, “‘What do you want me to do for you?’ ‘Lord, I want to see,’ he replied. Jesus said to him, ‘Receive your sight; your faith has healed you’ ” (vv. 41–42).

When our plans are interrupted by someone who genuinely needs help, we can ask the Lord for wisdom in how to respond with compassion. What we call an interruption may be a divine appointment the Lord has scheduled for that day.

Lord Jesus, fill us with Your wisdom and compassion that we may respond as You did to people in need.

Interruptions can be opportunities to serve.

INSIGHT

In Acts 8 we read of another divine interruption. Philip had a fruitful ministry in Samaria (Acts 8:4–25), so he may have wondered why God would tell him to leave and take “the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza” (v. 26). In obedience, Philip took the road few used. But God had sovereignly arranged for Philip to meet with an Ethiopian—a Gentile who himself had embarked on a long journey as he earnestly sought after God (v. 27). Philip made contact with the Ethiopian just as he was reading a prophecy about Jesus (vv. 28–34). The man believed in Christ, and Philip baptized him on the spot (vv. 36–38). Imagine how Philip must have felt when he realized he had been sent out on a divine assignment of leading a person to faith in Christ! Philip being on the road less traveled was no accident; he was there by divine leading.

What might the Lord be prompting you to do today?

Sim Kay Tee

By |2017-10-04T11:46:59-04:00October 4th, 2017|
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