Cheap Comfort

I try to be a good friend.  I love. I listen. I pray. I laugh. And I cry. All these, imperfectly.

When a friend comes to me worried about her child's health, I hand out advice on which home remedies helped my kids.  When a friend relays to me her husband's suspicious behavior, I assure her he has eyes only for her.  When a friend expresses weariness over her six-month-old waking up five times a night, I remind her this is only a season.

"Comfort one another." (2 Cor 13:11) This is our role, as friends- sisters- Christians, is it not?  And yet I am convicted lately that this comfort I so often offer to those I love is a cheap version of the comfort I am called to offer.

This comfort I tend to extend falls short when my friend's child actually does have a serious illness.  It fails to sustain the friend whose husband really did cheat on her.  It robs my sleepless friend of the comfort she could be experiencing now, in the midst of this trying season.

God is the "Friend who sticks closer than a brother" (Prov 18:24).  He is the "God of all comfort, who comforts us in all of our affliction"(2 Cor 1:3).  What would He have to teach me about true comfort?

When I open the pages of the gospels, I see a God who offered a comfort deeper than the storm:

Jesus did not just free the prostitute from execution by stoning- he gave her abundant life.
Jesus did not merely "liberate" the Samaritan woman from being dependent on men- he showed her transforming truth.
Jesus did not stop at healing the lame man- he offered him eternal hope.

Don't misread me: Christ cares about our troubles.  He can sympathize when we are tired, worried, criticized (Heb 4:15).  He is compassionate toward the woman who just found out her husband is unfaithful.  He weeps with the father who loses his job.  He is present in the wake of a terminal diagnosis.

But He sees a deeper trouble- a greater need- that needs seen to. He knows that a faithful husband cannot cure a broken heart.  He knows that a surplus of income will not give an unemployed man true security or identity.  He realizes that miraculous healing will only prolong the inevitable death this physical body is bound toward.

And so He offers us unwavering, imperishable comfort:

"Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned." - Isaiah 40:1-2

We have been given a miracle: grace that is sufficient for every circumstance, glory that outweighs the ugliest forms of the curse.

We are called to comfort our brothers and sisters with this same living hope.  Next time a friend comes to me with a need, a worry, a hurt- I will be tempted to give her advice.  Explain away her worries.  Or perhaps, to tell her what she wants to hear.

But I pray I would give her more.  SO much more.  How amazing that I am able to point her to an Unchanging Rock!  I can remind her of a God who knows her outcome and will use it for good!  I can comfort her with the knowledge that she is chosen, forgiven, and more than a conquerer in Christ- no matter what!

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God."