To Encourage You

2 Corinthians 7:6-7 “But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, and not only by his coming but also by the comfort with which he was comforted by you, as he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced still more.”

Do you desire the incredible experience of being used by God, of having the Creator of the universe working in and through your life?  It’s simple: do what He says!  You see, God, probably more often than we can ever imagine, does His work through people just like you and me.  We see this explained very well in the verses above. Here Paul talks about being comforted by God.  “Comfort” here means to be called near, to give a word of encouragement to someone who is discouraged or “cast down.”  That’s something that God does all the time.  In fact, one of the names for the Holy Spirit is “the Comforter” (John 16:7).  But how does He do this? What is His method?  Well, in the case above, Paul was comforted by God “by the coming of Titus.”  It was in the person of Titus that the Holy Spirit that lived within Titus came near to Paul to encourage him.  It’s a wonderful truth.  But note that Titus comforted Paul “by the comfort with which he was comforted by you, as he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me.”  Like ripples that spread out from the point of impact of pebble in a lake, Titus had been encouraged by the love that the Corinthian church had expressed toward Paul in how they spoke about him to Titus. This not only encouraged Titus, but it likewise encouraged Paul as Titus told him about it. 

How awesome is this?!  It reminds me of the story about how Jesus fed over 5,000 people with the five loaves and two fish that a young boy gave to Him (John 6:1-14).  Jesus, by His awesome power, took this small and what some would say, insignificant gift, and multiplied that gift to bless over 5,000 people! What’s more, think of the millions the Lord has encouraged throughout history since that time as they’ve read about this incident in His Word.  What wonderful things God can do with any act of obedience to Him. 

Jesus has told us that “whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”  Such a simple act, but one that the Lord has promised us He can and will use in profound ways if we will just obey Him. And what is that reward?  Surely, it will include the revelation in eternity of what God did with such gifts.  Every time we obey our Lord by praying for someone, every time we give to a person in need, every time we visit someone who is in need of encouragement because of an illness or some mishap that has come into their lives, every time we act in kindness to “the least of these,” God can take that act and multiply it many times over as it ripples through the lives of those we touch and others beyond.  So much of this we won’t know about until eternity, but one thing that is certain is that at that time we will rejoice with joy unspeakable to see what God has done. 

As the comfort of the Corinthian church encouraged Titus, who then encouraged Paul who has then encouraged all of us through what he has penned for us to read, may we be obedient to our Lord in everything and so allow him to multiply whatever we’ve done to His glory.  God has encouraged us with the command that “whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”  Oh, how he wants to multiply every act of obedience as only an omnipotent Being can do. 

May God help us “make the most of every opportunity (Ephesians 5:16)” He gives us to obey Him and lay our gifts at His feet, no matter how small or insignificant we might consider them to be.