Counseling situations, therapy groups are full of this kind of talk. "You can't give me any comfort because you haven't experienced what I have experienced." "You can't possibly understand." Paul's response to this, based on 2 Corinthians 1.4-6 is, "Ridiculous!" Has our Lord brought comfort to me in forgiveness of sins, in granting eternal life? Has our Lord proclaimed deliverance from death? Has he removed the burden of guilt for all our sin? Talk about comfort! And what comfort can I bring to someone who is dealing with a different set of sins than the sins I tend to deal with? I can bring the same comfort. We are able to comfort those in any afflictions.
It's time that we stopped limiting the work of Christ in our lives to our specific sinful deeds. Time to look to the Lord our Redeemer who has delivered us from the curse of sin. Are we dealing with adversity? So did our Lord. Are we assaulted by the consequences of our sin? Our Lord has also borne the consequences of our sin. Are we misunderstood? So was our Lord, and he remains misunderstood to this very day. The bottom line is that we have all failed to love and trust God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. We stand condemned, regardless of the other things we may do, both socially acceptable and unacceptable. We all stand equally condemned. Christ died for all our sins equally. Christ redeems us all from the curse of sin as we believe he has paid the penalty for sin. There is comfort indeed.
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