Episode 21 - Comfort One Another
Click on the button below to listen, or scroll to read the transcript
Welcome to Jen’s New Song. My name is Jennifer Holmes and I write and speak and podcast on the intersection of faith and mental illness. When I started planning this topic of one anothering for the podcast a few months ago, I had no idea a global pandemic was coming. I thought I would be speaking on one anothering in a normal time, when we could gather as the body of Christ, be challenged to see our people more, and to have them become an intentional part of our every day lives. Things look a lot different right now. The body of Christ can’t meet together in real life, we can’t be in each other’s homes, and many people can’t even meet outside for a walk or a talk on a porch. So I wondered about changing the topic, but decided not to. Because I think we need more intentional thought on one anothering even more right now. Our role in the body of Christ has not changed, even if the application has. So we will continue on with our Bible study of one anothering and just try to apply it in ways that work right now.
The topic of one anothering naturally brings up a lot about suffering. We’ve been talking about how to weep with those who weep or how to encourage others who are suffering by singing to them. If life were all roses, we wouldn’t need each other nearly as much. Of course, we are to celebrate with those who have something to celebrate, laugh with those who are laughing, and rejoice with those who are rejoicing. But those seem to come a bit more naturally. It’s the suffering that’s hard to sit in. It’s when people are suffering that we need reminders of how to deal with it.
Today we’re going to look at a passage in I Thessalonians. Let me read you I Thessalonians 4:16-18.
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
This beautiful chapter has much to teach us about how we relate to one another. It deals with love, holiness, purity, and even minding your business. Then it starts to talk about how to relate to one another when there has been death. Paul tells his readers to not sorrow as those who have no hope. We are still allowed to sorrow, of course, because the death of a loved one is a great sorrow, but as Christians we just sorrow differently than others. We sorrow with hope because we know that this is not the end.
Paul reminds us that in the end, we who are Christians will spend eternity with God and those who are alive and remain at the end of the world will be caught up together in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. What an amazing picture! Either way, we end up with Jesus.
But there is a phrase at the end of verse 17 that I think sums up all of Paul’s thoughts. So shall we ever be with the Lord. This is it. The sum of our hope.
Of course, we delight in God’s presence here on earth in our suffering. I know that I could never make it through without knowing He was right beside me, without His supernatural strength to face each day. But what if that was the end? It might be enough, but it would hard to believe that the suffering this world deals us is worth it.
It’s that eternal focus, that hope of being ever with the Lord that is the most important. We know that here, this life, is just a vapour. That we can make it through anything here because it’s short and the hope of heaven waits for us.
When pain fills my body, when I’m grieving a loved one, when my mind feels broken, the thought of eternity looks better and better. I start to think of being whole, being pain free, being completely happy and content. But all of that is possible because I’ll be with my Saviour. So shall we ever be with the Lord.
Paul then ends the chapter with a command. He tells us to comfort one another with these words. So often we look one another in the eye and we are at a loss for words. What do you tell someone who has lost a child? What do you say to someone who is dying? How do we one another well when someone has gotten the news that they will suffer for the rest of their lives here on earth?
In those situations, it’s hard to find hope. Of course, we want to lead them to rest in the presence of God, we want to give them our presence, weep with them and more. But where we find the most comfort, the thing that leads us to grieve, but with hope, is that we will be forever with the Lord.
One day the suffering will be over. One day we will be reunited with loved ones. One day God will wipe all the tears from our eyes. One day all the sacrifices we made here will be rewarded. That is the hope we cling to. And that is the hope we need to remind each other of constantly.
We comfort one another, not by telling each other that this present doesn’t matter. Because it does. We don’t tell each other that we should quickly get over suffering because it’s temporal, because suffering is real. We don’t tell each other that what happens in this world doesn’t matter because in light of eternity, what happens here matters very much.
We comfort one another by reminding each other that this is not the end. The best is yet to come and that is what gives us hope to keep going. So shall we ever be with the Lord.
Thank you for joining me today. I’m really excited about this series and hope you are too. If you’d like to hear from me more and get almost daily encouragement, I hope you’ll join me on Instagram or Facebook. Just search Jens New Song. You can find transcripts of these episodes on my website if you prefer to read the rest of the season. My website is jensnewsong.com I also have a free mini course available on there on the life of Elijah and what it teaches us about our mental health.
If you enjoyed todays episode and you’re excited about this series, would you forward this to a friend? It might be a great way to build community in your own church! And if you’re really excited, would you go leave a rating and review in iTunes? That’s how other people find the podcast. Or subscribe on YouTube so you don’t miss the next episode. Thanks everyone. Go love someone today!