Daily devotion – Comfort
Luke 7:13 When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.”
I believe we are going to extend our Operation Christmas Child boxes considerably more than we did last year. The majority of which will end up in the hands of children in war torn Ukraine. Calvary Chapel Secret Harbour I believe is a body of believers with a compassionate heart!
Compassion is your pain in my heart. We live in a society today where compassion is sadly a rare commodity. Jesus was always so compassionate to those around Him. The Bible calls Him the Man of Sorrows because He took our pain into His own heart. Yet the writer of Hebrews which is like a fabulous commentary on the rest of the Bible, tells us that Jesus was anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows 1:9.
How can this be? Jesus the Man of Sorrows and yet anointed with the oil of gladness above any other human being who has ever lived?
Jesus taught us in the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed, or happy, “are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” – Matthew 5:4
One of the keys to happiness is to allow sorrow to lodge in your heart. Eastern mysticism totally rejects this viewpoint. One of the foundational teachings of Buddha was at all costs to avoid pain and sorrow, for if humanity would enter into the state of detached feeling, they call this nirvana, then there would be no more jealousy or envy, no more wars and fighting. This was the mindset of the 60’s.
Jesus however, came on the scene and annihilated that teaching and mentality by saying, “Happy is the man or woman, not who detaches his or herself, but who mourns, who is heartbroken, for they are the one who will be comforted.”
The word ‘comfort’ has the same root meaning as the word ‘fortify’. In other words, Jesus said that the one who is mourning will also be the one who is fortified.
You will remember when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was in deep anguish, so much so that His sweat contained blood, such was His mourning.
Yet Luke tells us in 22:43, that as Jesus was going through this ordeal, an angel came and comforted, sustained and fortified Him.
When is the last time you have had your heart pierced with someone else’s sorrow or sin? Could it be that I am NOT comforted by the Comforter because I am not doing what Jesus did to this poor widow of Nain?
Are you unhappy? Do you feel comfortless? Take Jesus Words seriously this week – for here lies a nugget, a treasure, to what is the key to happiness – that being to mourn for others, to carry someone else’s pain in your heart.