Comforters

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Mt. 5:4 NIV).

My father-in-law grew up in West Virginia, without the benefit of central heating. At bedtime on the cold wintry evenings, he would back up to the wood stove and get his backside as hot as he dared, then sprint for his bed. Diving onto the cold mattress, he warmed it up until it chilled him down. In the morning he would awaken to find snow drifted into the bedroom through cracks around the window. What he wouldn’t have given for the lovely comforters of today – large, thick, fluffy, filled with insulating goose down…

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…God is our Comforter. Infinitely large and filled with delicious warmth and compassion, He comes to us and offers exactly the comfort that we need in this cold, hard world. He comes today to you, and…

He comes with a smile of kindness instead of the dreaded frown of condemnation (Rom. 8:1).
He comes to bear your burdens today (Ps. 68:19).
He works in every aspect of your current situation for your good (Rom. 8:28).
He assures you that sorrows are temporary things (Cor. 4:17).
He reminds you that an eternity of uninterrupted joy awaits (Rev. 21:4)
He promises to personally wipe the last tear from your eyes (Rev. 21:4).

Who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort that we ourselves have received from God (2. Cor. 1:3-4 NIV). Each of God’s children are designed to be “little comforters” – lap robes, you might say, fashioned in the likeness of His King-sized covering. We’re privileged to bring a bit of God’s warmth and compassion to the miserable and shivering who pass by us day after day. We can display God’s smile of kindness, share their burdens, strengthen their faith, and point them to the One Who will one day end this season of winter and bring eternal summer.

As God’s children through faith in Jesus Christ, we have a constant Comforter, so we don’t have to fear chilly mournings. And we are comforters, because we are filled with Him. How blessed we are!

So spread the warmth this week!