By David ReayFriday 21 Aug 2015LifeWords DevotionalsFaithReading Time: 0 minutes
Transcript:
Read 2 Corinthians 1:3-6
3-6 Thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that he is our Father and the source of all mercy and comfort. For he gives us comfort in our trials so that we in turn may be able to give the same sort of strong sympathy to others in theirs. Indeed, experience shows that the more we share Christ’s suffering the more we are able to give of his encouragement. This means that if we experience trouble we can pass on to you comfort and spiritual help; for if we ourselves have been comforted we know how to encourage you to endure patiently the same sort of troubles that we have ourselves endured. (JBP)
We sometimes hear people saying that we can’t help people who are struggling unless we have overcome our own struggles. Or that we can’t help them grow beyond our own levels of maturity. This is not really true, and it leads to our feeling we cannot minister to others as long as we see ourselves as wounded or not having our act together.
Paul is very honest about his weakness and struggle. He reminds the super-spiritual, triumphalist Corinthians that the troubles he faces are not a barrier to ministry but an aid to ministry. He is going through difficulties and so is able to help others handle difficulties.
Our own woundedness can be a blessing when it comes to helping others. It keeps us humble: we can’t pretend to know all the answers or to experience constant victory. We become approachable to others who may seek us out because they see in us an ordinary human being rather than an elevated guru.
To wait for all our wounds to be healed and our struggles to cease is to wait too long. We get in and love God and others as we are. The wounded healer plays a valued role in advancing the purposes of God.
Blessings
David Reay