2021-02-23 “Comfort your hearts”

II Thessalonians 2:16  “Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace,  17  Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work.

I read the news, listen to people talk, observe people’s actions, and see the plague of Christian lethargy spreading across our Country; and my heart is painfully discomforted!  And, I am even further discomforted when I examine myself, for I find “that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not” (Romans 7:18).  But, as I pray and read and study the Word of God, “Comfort” returns to my troubled heart like a warm coat on a bitterly cold day.  All is not lost; for, in every generation our Lord preserves a remnant of His People to faithfully worship and serve Him and he wonderfully blesses them with “grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16) as they face their frequent tribulations and public mocking because of their faithfulness to the Lord.  Our hearts are greatly comforted when we pause and remember that “Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.” (Romans 11:5)!  Furthermore, I am personally comforted when I am reminded that God the Father “hath made” His Son “to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (II Corinthians 5:21)!  “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.” (Hebrews 13:15)!