Comforted part 1
It always kind of blows my mind (and not in a good way) that people have a negative reaction to a positive gospel. Like there could be anything BUT a positive gospel. The word "gospel" means "good news." So let's get real. We have a happy God. And He wants His children to be happy. What father wouldn't? And, in fact, there is (in my opinion) ample Scripture to back this up. Let me link two memory verses together to try to illustrate my point. "That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ" (Colossians 2:2), and John 14:26, "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." The Comforter. The Holy Ghost. Because your heavenly Father wants to comfort you. He wants your heart to be comforted. That's why the Holy Spirit--the Spirit of truth that leads and guides us into all truth--knits us together in love. Love is the ultimate truth of the universe. God is love and He loves you. If we know that, we know everything. And, listen, that doesn't necesarily mean we understand everything we know. The heart of the matter is the heart. And this everlasting, eternal, never-ending life-long journey is just that: a journey into the heart of the matter. And in this case, it's the not the destination. It's the journey. God's love is so big, and so powerful, and so good, that we could test the height, and length, and breadth, and width of it for the rest of our lives and barely even scratch the surface of it. And, in fact, that's what God wants us to do. He wants us to live a life of love. He doesn't want us to always struggle. He doesn't want us to just survive. He wants us to thrive! How many times in the Bible did He bless His chosen people--and I'm strictly talking about financially in this case. So many times. He wants to lavish us with everything He has and everything He is. He wants us to enjoy the gift we've been given. But having said all that, I want to break it way down for this Rant series. And I want to talk about what those (honestly) miserable people who rail against a happy gospel really need. Comfort. We know that everything is under our feet. But we don't see everything as being under our feet. And that's why we get ourselves into so many undesireable situations so often. We get wrapped up in things that don't matter. We give power to things that have none. But here's the key--when we do that, God doesn't get mad at us. He doesn't give up on us. Even when I make my own mess... God still wants to comfort me. Let me end with this, which I think says it better than I could: "If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there" (Psalms 139:8). Wherever we go, whatever we do, no matter if we make our own mess or if someone else negatively affects us... God is there. Ready, willing, and able to comfort us with His love. To fill us up with Himself, so that we can get through whatever we need to go through. So we can come out stronger on the other side. And so that we can then take that comfort and give it to others who need it!