Have you ever been shopping for a particular suit, shoe, purse, or something and you smiled the moment you seen it? The reason you smiled was because you said to yourself, “This looks like me” or as today’s title would imply, “This was made just for me”. Oftentimes, you will purchase that suit, pair of shoes, purse, shirt, or something and see a few days later, a few weeks later, maybe months later, that you and someone had the same taste because they are wearing the same thing as you! With this being said, you realize that though you believed the outfit or whatever was made just for you, in all actuality, it was NOT made just for you! It had others in mind! Within the realm of the Spirit, there are things God have created that are NOT just for you. Today’s main scripture provides us further clarity on this statement.
2 Corinthians is where our main scripture for today is found. Scholars reveal that Paul’s apostleship was assaulted and questioned by those in the church at Corinth. The intent of this letter was to provide vindication of the apostleship granted to Paul by the Almighty God. Within this introductory chapter, Paul discusses God being the God of all comfort (verses 1 – 11) and his change of plans (verses 12 – 24). As we look at our main scripture today, it is found within the first theme, the God of all comfort, and from there, we’ll explore more what “it” was and why “it” just wasn’t made for you.
Paul addresses the church at Corinth with this message: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort”. Paul teaches us a fundamental lesson here. No matter what you are embarking upon, whether it’s prayer, the beginning of your workday, the beginning of your off day, the beginning of service at church, or anything for that matter, we ought to start off with a praise unto our God! We ought to give Him praise for waking us up in the morning! We ought to give Him praise because He provided for you and your family! We ought to praise Him for the good things, as well as the bad things! We ought to give Him praise because He has blessed us in big things, as well as little things. We ought to give Him praise because He’s good ALL the time and ALL the time, God is good! The text also shows us that God is the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort. When you don’t have anyone to hold you in their arms, God is right there ready to hold you in His arms! When you need your tears wiped off your face from crying, God is right there with His “heavenly Kleenex” to wipe off your face! When you feel like you don’t deserve to be forgiven, God is right there to have compassion upon you and forgive you! If you glad to know that God has compassion and that He is the God of all comfort, you ought to give Him praise wherever you are!
The text continues by saying that He is “who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God”. In other words, God did not make “it”, comfort, just for you! He made comfort for us during our troubles, but He made comfort so that we can comfort others when they are in trouble! Think about it, the comfort God gives us is like the blessings He has given us, because when you receive His blessings, those blessings do NOT end at you and with you! Those blessings are meant to be spreaded to those who need it! I think about this ministry, Special Delivery from Heaven, and how God has taken His hands, placed them on me, where I can come before you on a daily basis during the work week to give you encouragement! Once upon a time, I was very spiritually obese, ate so much Word, but was not able to give it, but through this Ministry, He is allowing me to shed the spiritual weight and give it to you that you may be encouraged! Ladies and gentlemen, each and every one of you have some kind of comforting bones in your body! If you see that your brother/sister needs comfort, step up and provide them comfort because God comforted you when you were in trouble!
In closing, no particular shirt, skirt, suit, or any piece of clothing was made just for you. It was made for others including you. Just like clothing was not made just for you, neither is God’s comfort. He provides comfort to you, but it is made where you provide comfort to others in their time of trouble. Are you sitting there with your comfort arms closed or are you opening them up and blessing others with comfort in their time of need?
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