The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe
"The Things of Others"
Born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ address pain, loss, sorrow, difficulty, and illness personally, seeking God's comfort, help, solution, healing, and sufficient grace. Thereby, we "glorify ye the Lord in the fires" by trusting and submitting to God in our challenges. "In the day of my trouble, I sought the Lord" (Isaiah 24:15; Psalm 77:2).
Another path and privileged responsibility also presents itself in the challenges of life.
"Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort, who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation" (II Corinthians 1:3-6).
Trouble, in whatever form or measure, makes possible our capacity to minister to others. The love of God dwells within born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, meaning we exist first and foremost for the glory of God and the blessing of people (Romans 5:5). Our Heavenly Father works in our challenges regarding our personal walk with Him. However, He also allows and administers our difficulties in terms of our role in the lives of other people. As the Apostle Paul testified, the comfort we receive becomes the comfort we distribute. "Whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation" (II Corinthians 1:6).
Fewer more revolutionary truths exist in the pages of God's Word. Our native tendency regarding trouble tempts us to become inward and self-centered. "Why is this happening to me?" Again, a place exists for this question as we address our difficulties in the personal sense. However, what if our challenge also bears more significance regarding our service to the Lord Jesus and others? Regarding his own troubles, the Apostle Paul affirmed, "The things which have happened to me have fallen out rather for the furtherance of the Gospel" (Philippians 1:12). The presence of Christ's others-devoted love in Paul's heart resulted in the Apostle's realization that his life was not about himself. The same Christ lives in every believer's heart. Our Father works to turn us inside out, as it were, by wrenching the primary focus from ourselves - "Why is this happening to me?" - to the perspective based on the love of Christ: "How does this challenge make possible my honoring the Lord Jesus and my ministry to others?"
A special opportunity for prayer exists in the truth we consider. Certainly, it is proper to pray for ourselves - "casting all your care upon Him" (I Peter 5:7). However, we face no challenge that is not "common to man" (I Corinthians 10:13). When challenged, countless others share our experience of pain, loss, sorrow, and difficulty. Our challenge builds an altar in our hearts to pray for those others. We seek God's comfort for them as well as for ourselves. Thereby, our personal challenge leads to prayerful consideration for the needs of others, and of far greater significance, God's provision of comfort to those for whom we intercede. "So then death worketh in us, but life in you" (II Corinthians 12:9).
Perhaps in Heaven, some fellow citizen will encounter us along a glimmering street of gold and ask, "Do you recall the prayer you prayed for me on that day in 2026? You were hurting, and you prayed for somebody, somewhere who was also facing great difficulty and pain at the time. I was that "somebody." Or at least, I was one such "somebody" for whom our Heavenly Father answered your prayer for others, prayed from the altar of your own pain. Through your intercession, He met and comforted me in my challenge." Doubtless, we will join that fellow saint in yet another prayer, falling to our knees on a street of gold to praise the God whose love leads us to seize the opportunity our challenges provide to seek His grace for others. "Why is this happening to me?" A place exists for the question. However, a far larger place exists for a far more blessed inquiry, as the love of the Lord Jesus leads us… "Who is this for?"
"Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."
(I Corinthians 10:31)
"Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others."
(Philippians 2:4).
Weekly Memory Verse
I will praise Thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify Thy name forevermore.
(Psalm 86:12)
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