“Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2)

Several years ago, two 8-month-old stray puppies from Philadelphia received their fifteen minutes of fame. Given the names Jeffrey and Jermaine, it was instantly noticed when they were rescued that the two were inseparable. The dogs are brothers, but the perfectly seeing Jermaine served as a guide dog for Jeffrey who was noted to be blind in both eyes. Thanks to his brother, he was able to get around safely. When they were discovered wandering around the streets of the city, they were frightened but Jermaine did everything possible to stay close to Jeffrey to let him know that he was there. The story of the devoted canine and his dependent sibling remind us that even animals are capable of expressing comfort and support for someone who is less fortunate and in need.

A friend recently recalled two instances where showing support proved to be most appreciated.  In both cases, it was just a simple “thinking of you” that seemed to mean so much to the recipients. In the first situation, she was unsure how to reach out to a former colleague whose husband she had heard had been diagnosed with cancer. As Easter neared, it seemed like an appropriate time to just send a note. Days later, she received a phone call from the wife indicating how much her expression of thoughts and prayers had meant. In the second case, she sent a card to an old neighbor who had just entered a personal care facility. Again an unassuming expression of concern and the words, “If you would like a visit – please give me a call.”  Days later, she was contacted by a third party that her friend had been admitted to a hospital and was asking that she respond with a visit.  Two insignificant acts which required little time and effort on her part were each received with deep gratitude.

In the Old Testament, it is written that Job became afflicted by Satan “with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head” because he would not sin and curse God (Job 2:7-10).  “Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this adversity that had come upon him, they came each one from his own place . . . and they made an appointment together to come to sympathize with him and comfort him. When they lifted up their eyes at a distance and did not recognize him, they raised their voices and wept. And each of them tore his robe and they threw dust over their heads toward the sky. Then they sat down on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights with no one speaking a word to him, for they saw that his pain was very great” (Job 2:11-13). Likewise, when Jesus told His parable of ‘The Sheep and the Goats’ – He used an analogy to describe how His Heavenly Father will separate those who are His (the sheep) from the unfaithful (the goats). Jesus said that one of the ways the righteous would be known was “when I was sick, and you looked after Me” (Matthew 25:36).

The Apostle Paul counseled that we might have empathy to enter into other people’s sorrow and comfort them.  To the church at Corinth, he wrote: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 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. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too” (2 Corinthians 1:3-5). The requirement is that we take action with the same love and mercy for others that God has shown us. I know a gentleman who visited a friend of his in a nursing home nearly every day for six months. When asked about the dedication he had shown to his friend, he frankly replied that when he was once in the same situation (again for months), that very friend only missed coming to see him two days. In his book When the Darkness Will Not Lift, author and theologian John Piper writes: “For most people who are passing through the dark night of the soul, the turnaround will come because God brings unwavering lovers of Christ into their lives who do not give up on them.” Thanks be to God and to all those whom He sends in our direction to look after us.

REFLECTION:  Romans 12:13 says, “When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality.” How have you demonstrated your willingness to look after others?  In what ways might you be able to search for opportunities to share the comfort you have received?

A NEW LOOKUP  DEVOTION IS UPLOADED EACH WEEK. THE NEXT WEEKLY POSTING WILL BE ON SAT., MAY 21, 2016.  COMMENTS ARE WELCOMED.