It’s hard not to take it
personal when you offer comfort to a friend or family member only to have your counsel
brushed aside. The rebuff stings even though we may not have enough
information, our counsel may have an agenda, or our type of comfort is not what
they need at the moment. Job said to his friends, “I have heard many things
like these; miserable comforters are you all! Will your long-winded
speeches never end? What ails you that you keep on arguing? I also
could speak like you, if you were in my place; I could make fine speeches
against you and shake my head at you. But my mouth would encourage
you; comfort from my lips would bring you relief” (Job 16:2-5 NIV).
1 comment:
Gail;
-----When we admit God is true and every man is false, then our chances for sharing peace and joy with each other increase. More beneficial than acknowledging your faultiness is admitting my own. For when both are perceived, then we need no longer be the bumbling technicians short-circuiting goodness in most everything we touch. Even God’s Word happily avoids being a technical manual in order to be the illustration of truth and righteousness.
-----So, being the faulty ones, we are in no place to draw technical lines nor define technical boundaries. It is for us to also illustrate truth and righteousness by being flexible enough to forebear reasonable differences. Who’s at fault for reasonable differences becomes less important than how I can build up you up in what you’re trying to be for the Lord. Any difference lying beyond what’s written is a difference to be enjoyed. So when advice or comfort is known to have reasonably missed its mark, the giver is yet due a heartfelt thank you. That is the recipient’s best estimation of righteousness, peace, and joy. We’ll work out the technicalities later.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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