The Sabotage to Intimacy

1 Corinthians 1:3-6

For He is the Father of tender mercy and the God of endless comfort. He always comes along side us to comfort us in every suffering so that we can come alongside those who are in painful trial.

We can bring them the same comfort that God has poured out upon us. And just as we experience the abundance of Christ’s own sufferings, even more of God’s comfort will cascade upon us through our union with Christ.

If troubles weigh us down, that just means that we will receive even more comfort to pass on to you for your deliverance! For the comfort pouring into us empowers us to bring comfort to you.

And with this comfort upholding you, you can endure victoriously the same suffering that we experience.

Our culture avoids pain at all costs. We distract to numb the low lying ache and fear present within our souls.

When solitude does not bring peace, it indicates that His Presence is not prevailing.

In our avoidance of pain, we sabotage the intimacy that Jesus died to give us. The comfort of Jesus will always be evasive when we avoid the only way to experience it. He takes our hand in pain. He walks beside us in pain, He fellowships with us in pain, for the purpose of intimacy.

In this realm of intimacy with the Person of Jesus, we apprehend the purpose of His wounds. We experience the healing that only comes through His touch where human fingers cannot reach. Our fragmented souls yearn for wholeness, which only comes as we raise our broken pieces and place them in the scarred hands of Jesus.

In that exchange, He comforts us.

In that exchange, He heals us.

Our pain is the invitation to sit at the table of communion with our Savior. It is there that we receive His provision of Presence. From that place of friendship, we are able to present His goodness to the wounded ones He places in our path. He is lifted up and the Kingdom comes down.

On earth as it is in Heaven.

The embrace of pain, invites His embrace of grace and we become knowers and then ministers for the One in Whom we know.