Morning Devotional 022324 The Great Comforter

Liz’s Morning Devotional: Scripture selected from Upper Room

  February 23, 2024

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.

Good Morning! Sing praise to the Lord God!

Each of us faces challenges and struggles in our lives. Some of these are the result of choices that we make. Others are the result of choices others make, and then there are those that seemingly come out of nowhere. 

If we face no struggles, we will be weak and unable to stand on our own. Through our struggles, we learn the ways that don’t work, and we learn to persevere. Struggles come with a variety of labels: mental, financial, emotional, physical, and spiritual. Some may be as basic as learning to do long division, while others may be as catastrophic as a stroke or loss of a loved one. 

God promises to be with us and comfort us through all our struggles. In our call to love our neighbors, we are commanded to be there to comfort one another in our times of need. From time to time, you hear about someone paying for the next car’s order in the drive-thru, aka paying it forward. 

We can apply this idea to extending comfort. God comforts us, then we comfort the one behind us, and the circle begins. Imagine a world where everyone’s first thought is to extend comfort to one another without regard to labels. A world where we see what God sees in each person. 

Gracious God, Thank you for this beautiful gift of life. Help us remove the labels we place on others so that we may treat all as a brother/sister in Christ. We thank you! In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen

Thought for the day: Because God comforts us, we can extend comfort to others.

Reach out and give comfort! Pastor Liz