Warm-up: Colossians 4:7-11
Paul writes of certain friends whom, he says, "have proved a comfort to me." The word "comfort" is an unusual word-a medical term that Paul may have picked up from his good friend, Dr. Luke. This is the only place it occurs in the New Testament.
In Paul's day the verb meant "to alleviate pain." We get the archaic term "paregoric" from it, a word my mother applied to a mysterious and wondrous potion in our medicine chest that was supposed to rid the body of any and all pain.
Paul couldn't have used a better word. What could be more encouraging than to know that there are people like that: men and women, boys and girls who alleviate and mitigate our pain.
Pain is one of the necessities of life. No one evades it. Physical discomfort is sometimes hard to bear, but it seems to me that the greatest pain comes from the heart: the pain of weakness and shame; the pain of misunderstanding, criticism and accusation; the pain of deferred hope, disillusionment and abandoned dreams; the pain of lonely isolation.
Unfortunately there are those sincere but much too certain people who only augment our pain. Like Job's comforters they talk too much and have a reason for everything that comes our way. They always leave us more uncomfortable than before.
On the other hand there are those good and honest souls who, like Paul's friends, alleviate our pain. Often they're simple, humble people, not in the least important or distinguished, yet somehow in the wear and tear of life they always find a way to reduce our discomfort. It's not that they say very much; it's just that they're there or that they simply care or listen well or pray. Most times that's all a body needs.
At other times it's the way they bear their own pain. Their sorrow, endured in simple faith, helps us to bear ours. Their affliction, endured courageously, helps us to be a little braver.
Often they're not even aware of the comfort they're brought to us. They're unconscious of any effect they've had because they weren't trying to have an effect. They were just being what they are-a comfort.
You say, "I'd like to be the kind of person who is a comfort to others." Not to worry. If you're spending time in devotion to Christ and growing toward likeness to him you are a comfort to others whether you know it or not. It's not something you try to do. It's something that happens when you're hiding yourself in Him.
It may be that someday someone will write you a letter like Paul did and say "You were a comfort to me." Maybe not. Some folks never think to tell you what you've done for them or thank you for your consolation. But God knows and after all that's all that matters
DHR
4/15/97