“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…” (2 Cor. 1:3–4, ESV)

Our lives are littered with expressions of the goodness of God. The shelves of our pantries are stocked. Roofs over our heads. Vehicles for the journey. From money to pay the bills to something stashed away for the days ahead, God has been good.

The response God wants of us is thanksgiving. He wants us to see our possessions being extended to us by His open hand of provision. The money we have derives from jobs He has provided and skills He has gifted and competencies He has honed. A life of thanks should adorn our lives like the glitter my granddaughters sprinkle about. It touches everything and the reflection of the light captures the attention of others.

Gratitude keeps us tuned in to the goodness of our God and helps us to give Him glory in the sight of others. But there is something more that God wants of us in respect to the blessings He lavishes upon us. The apostle lays it out in the opening words of his second letter to the church at Corinth.

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. (2 Cor. 1:3–4)

Paul begins his letter to a beleaguered church by blessing the God who has met them in their affliction with His tender mercies and comfort. Notice, though, that comfort from God is not something to be stockpiled. We are to count our blessings but with the dimension of being stewards of those blessings for ministry to others. We are to pass it on.

We see this principle illustrated in the body of the letter. God had comforted Paul through Titus, who had himself been comforted by the Corinthian church (7:6-7). Paul spells it out in verse 13: “Therefore we have been comforted in your comfort. And we rejoiced exceedingly more for the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all.” Through this conduit of comfort Paul could say, “I am filled with comfort. I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation” (2 Cor. 7:4).

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