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Post by Woody Williams on Feb 24, 2024 8:27:30 GMT -5
Text for the Day -- 2 Corinthians 1:3-7 ---------- Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation, who consoles us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction with the consolation with which we ourselves are consoled by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ are abundant for us, so also our consolation is abundant through Christ. If we are being afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation; if we are being consoled, it is for your consolation, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we are also suffering. Our hope for you is unshaken; for we know that as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our consolation.
Devotional ---------- Consolation is a work of the Gospel. The Gospel of God comes with the promise of God's care, support and sustaining grace. "The sufferings of Christ are abundant for us," says Paul, and our consolation is abundant in Christ. Christian community centers life in the consolation of the Gospel. The Christian community understands the importance of being sustained by God's grace because the task and burden of sharing the Gospel is a high risk adventure in the world. It is important that Christians maintain a motivation of love in its work and life together, so that in weariness or woundedness the church does not begin to turn in on itself in anger and destructiveness. Love one another in the Gospel is still the saving and sustaining word for Christian community.
Prayer -------------------- Keep us focused in the church on your love, O Lord. Amen
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