COMFORT FOOD
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 NKJV
16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, 17 comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work.
When I say comfort food, what comes to mind? The answers can vary depending on the way you grew up or your discovery of the food that just makes you feel good. I was raised in the South with a lot of fried food that I loved, until I married an Italian who introduced me to food that replaced my love of Southern fried. Joy's Italian pasta and red sauce became my comfort food. And not being fried, it has been a comfort for my arteries also.
Words can be a comfort to our souls. Paul's words here in these two verses are comforting for a group of people who had been troubled by false teachings and difficult times. His words were a comfort to the people in Thessalonica, and they can work the same things in us today.
Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and our God and Father. Those words sound so personal. Jesus Himself is involved, and our God, our spiritual Father, is also involved. This is so much more than a religious creed or set of rules. This is personal, and this is family.
And our God and Father is not an absentee Father. He is the God and Father who has loved us and given us an everlasting consolation. Everlasting consolation could also be translated as everlasting encouragement for the purpose of strengthening. When we read verses like this, we begin to see that God has often been portrayed as much less and worse than who He really is. He is the God who is also our Father who loved us and has given us encouragement that will never fade out or die off.
Everlasting encouragement and good hope. By God's grace, He has given us this expectation of good, not of doom and gloom. Grace has saved us, but wait, there's more. God's grace is His power and all He has done for us through Jesus. The more we see of God's grace, the greater our expectation of good. Believers have the grace that encourages forever and an expectation that something good is going to happen to us.
All that to say that Jesus Himself and our loving, grace-giving Heavenly Father will comfort our hearts and establish us in every good word and work. The New Living Translation says, "comfort you and strengthen you in every good thing you do and say." Other translations give the idea that Jesus and the Father will encourage and stabilize our hearts or make our hearts steadfast.
APPLICATION
There is so much comfort in these two verses. Comfort for people who had been through a lot and were still dealing with challenges. But isn't that an accurate picture of life? We may not encounter the persecutions these early believers faced, but we all still deal with stuff. And whether it's minor or major stuff, we can take comfort in knowing that Jesus, our Lord Himself, and our God and Father are involved. And their involvement is for our strength, encouragement, and expectation of good. They help us stay steady in every good thing we do and say.
PRAYER
Dear Father, I thank You and the Lord Jesus for Your involvement in my life for good. Thank You for the strength, hope, and encouragement I have by Your grace.