3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 6 If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. 7 Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. (2 Corinthians 1:3–7, ESV)
“Sanctification is not really interested in making you a ‘better individual.’ God is making you into a person who is more connected to others, joined to Jesus Christ and to all His other afflicted people whose center of gravity is also shifting outside themselves.” David Powlison
Abba,
In your redemptive plan
For the development of man,
Even pain and sorrow have a share
In the tenderness of your care.
Pain has a part to play;
Having much to say
About the things that are,
And things that will be in future far.
Your infinite insight
Uses even pain’s dark blight;
Even death’s sting which so impassively does kill
In order to accomplish your perfect will
At the heart of your intent,
Unity and community lies magnificent.
Our struggles, not meant for our own alone
But for a bigger purpose, are sown.
For the benefit of all, for each
Our suffering is your divine reach.
Through mutual mercy and care
Do we, Your grace, share.
And in the sharing and caring
Do we find the mercy of brotherly bearing;
In the laying hold of another,
Do we forge the bonds of a brother.
For a shared pain
Is actually bonding’s gain;
For two or more who share
Become enmeshed in mutual care.
Abba, your eternal purpose
In pain’s carnal circus
Is redemptive community
Rooted in divine intimacy.
As your love meets us in today’s sorrow,
We compassionately share on the morrow.
As another endures the night,
And battles to stay in the fight,
That which we have received,
We joyfully give to those in need,
Community forming out of the exchange;
A holy and divine interchange.
We receive in our need
Just to give it away in gracious deed.
The process of enduring dark’s temporary spell
Causing personal growth and corporate community to swell.
And while we may grow tall
Through enduring it all
Still your purpose is higher than us alone
True community, you desire that we acquire and hone.
A Singular Passion 