“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort.” 2 Corinthians 1:3
The craving for comfort is all around us. The advertising industry is fuelled by society’s insatiable desire for comfort. A nicer home, newer furniture, a softer bed, a more exotic vacation, a more luxurious car, and on and on and on are the promises to make your life more comfortable. And as believers, we live in this world, but we are not to be of this world. Although we thank God for the comforts we know, the comforts of this world are not to be our aim in life!
A good test to determine where our hearts are at, in this regard, is when God allows a loss of material possessions into our lives. How do you react when your car gets a scratch? Or when your furniture is torn? Or when your prize possession has been damaged? Occasionally God allows affliction into our lives to reveal to us the stark reality of who our God really is – are we loving the God of all comfort, or are we loving comfort as our God? Remember, trials do not cause us to react sinfully – they only serve to lower our guard and reveal, to us and to others, what is truly in our hearts.
There is an old confession of the Church named the Heidelberg Catechism. The first question of the Catechism asks “What is your only comfort in life and death?” And the answer summarized is that I belong to God! There is more comfort there than in all the comforts of this world! Daniel was more “comfortable” in the lion’s den than Darius the king was in his royal bedroom. The greatest comfort we can know can never be bought with the silver or gold of this world, but has been purchased with the precious blood of a Lamb without blemish! The only comfort that can be experienced both in life and in death, is the comfort of belonging to “the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort” through saving union with His Son Jesus Christ! May God help us to grow in our pursuing of those things which have eternal significance, and may we be busy sharing that true comfort in a world full of counterfeits!
