Jump Start # 1869

1 Thessalonians 4:18 “Therefore comfort one another with these words.”

Our verse today is found at the end of a section that describes what happens to the righteous when they die. There must have been some concern on the part of the Thessalonian Christians. Paul’s words reminds them of the great hope that is found in Christ. There is a hope only in Christ. Based upon that foundation, the brethren found comfort in the words of God.

Comfort is something that everyone wants. We call those big thick blankets on our beds, “Comforters.” When a baby is not comfortable, whether he is hungry, hot, tired, needs a diaper change, he’ll let you know. We want comfortable beds, easy chairs and rides in our automobiles. We don’t like long lines at the store. We don’t like delays at the airport. We don’t like waiting in traffic jams caused by road construction. The dentist tries his best to make the process of a dental exam as comfortable as he can. We want air conditioners to cool us in the summer and the furnace to warm us in the winter. We want to be comfortable.

There are times when things are not comfortable. Seeing a man who never wears a tie, at a wedding, wearing a tie, can be very amusing. He’ll tug and pull at his collar, move his head around, squirm and is obviously very uncomfortable. But there are things much worse than that poor guy wearing a tie at a wedding.

There is the cancer patient who goes through long, long treatments. They can be sickening, painful and very unpleasant. These must be taken, because without this, there remains no hope of surviving. There are the parents of a teenager who sits in jail or is addicted to drugs. Their pain is much different than the cancer patient, but it is likewise very hard and something that just doesn’t go away. There is the young mother who is trying to pick up the pieces of her life after her husband has left her for someone else. She struggles with doing it all— having to work, be the only parent, take care of the house. She’s scared, tired and uncertain. Her life is not like the cancer patient but it is inside out and not comfortable at all. Then there is the sweet grandma who drives alone to a cemetery to stand and stare at a grave that holds the body of her husband. They were married for decades. Now death has taken his life. She is alone. Her kids are busy in their world. No words are said, she just stands and stares at that lonely grave.

There are many people today who are “uncomfortable.” Life has thrown them a curve ball, and things have not turned out as they expected. They try their best to keep moving on, but it’s hard. One of the things I believe God calls upon His children to do is to help those who are uncomfortable in life. Jesus did that. He helped those who were hurting and scared because they had leprosy. He helped the parents who had just seen their little daughter die. He helped a woman who had made a wrong choice and now was caught and was in serious trouble. She had committed adultery and now the crowd was demanding for her execution.

Helping others—doing good for others, is a trademark of Christians. That help may come in the form of encouraging words. It may come in the form of doing something that lightens the burden that someone is carrying. It comes in the form of just sitting with others. It comes in the form of answering questions and opening up the pages of the Bible. Often, the things we do will not remove the problems. They may seem like band-aids to a much deeper issue. They are expressions of love and care. It reminds a person that they are not alone in this journey.

One of the things that often makes problems and misery intense, is trying to chase down the cause. Why? Why do I have cancer? Why did my mate die? Why are my kids so disrespectful? Why? Why now? Why me? Our pain is often multiplied because of these deep questions that keep bothering us. We look around us and life seems to be running pretty smoothly for our friends and family. Their mates aren’t walking out on them. They don’t have cancer. Their kids are not in jail. Why me? Why now?

Why do some suffer and others don’t? There are some reasons. There are also some things we may never know.

Our lifestyle choices can bring pain and misery to our lives. Just as filling your stomach with junk food on a regular basis is going to catch up with you, filling your mind and your heart with junk will do the same. The environment we create for ourselves has a lot to do with these things. A steady diet of hate music, friends that are miserable and complaining about everything, will turn us into being grumpy, complaining and even mean.

Because of man’s sin, way back in the garden, God has punished mankind with death. Hebrews 9 tells us that it is appointed unto man to die once. That is set. God does not promise that you’ll to be 95 and then fall asleep in bed and never wake up. Death comes in many fashions. It may be that little baby that is put in his bed at night and he never wakes up again. So unfair. So tragic. It may be in a car accident on the way to work. It may be a disease. The “whys” are known only to God. Unfair, it is. Not right, probably true.

Why then doesn’t a good God do something about this? Why doesn’t God stop terrorists from killing children? Why doesn’t only the bad people get cancer? Our world is broken because of sin. This is not Heaven and it will never be. There is pain. There is injustice. There are things that are not right and fair. Why does God allow a sweet, sweet baby to die? Why did God allow His only Son to die? Jesus could have stopped it. When the crowds boasted, come down from the cross, one by one, those nails could have popped out. The crowd would have run in panic if that happened. If that happened, there would be no Heaven for us.

Our hope is in God. God’s greatest ones endured fiery furnaces, lion’s dens, prisons, beatings, stonings. John had his head beheaded. He was the cousin of Jesus. Some were sawn in two as Hebrews tells us. Jeremiah was put in a well. Where was God during all those times? The same place He is during your storms and pain. He is upon the throne in Heaven. It is our faith that endures past death. It is our faith that keeps us going. It is our faith that will make us triumphant. Satan wants to crush you. He wants you to point your finger at God and give up, just as Job’s wife had. He wants you to blame God. He wants you to walk away from God. But if you do, who do you walk to? There is no one other than God who can care for you, carry you, hear you, and deliver you.

Our hope is not here, but there, where God is. Cancer can crush our body, but not our faith. Death can bring tears to our eyes, but it can’t shut the door to our hope and faith. The postcard we have from Heaven, given not in pictures but in words, tells us of a place where there is no death, no sorrow, no pain and no tears. We want that now. We want that here. But it can’t happen. It will never happen. But we can have that if we walk by faith.

Comfort one another with these words—not just our verse today, but the truth to a suffering world. Jesus will take the faithful home. Someday all these problems will be over. Our problems do not go with us to Heaven. Are you walking with Jesus? Are you reading His word? Are you doing what He says? Do you have real faith and hope? Heaven is more than a dream or a wish. It is home for the Christian.

Roger