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Standing Beside Your Friends
Sometimes the best thing to help you get through a tough situation is to have a good friend close by. Even when you have to go through something difficult by yourself, it feels better to have someone close who can at least hold your hand, even if it's only in spirit. You may not be able to have someone with you in an operating room, for example, but it makes it easier to know they're in the waiting room, doesn't it?
The apostle Paul was no different. In 2 Corinthians 7:5, 6 we read: "For even when we came into Macedonia our flesh had no rest, but we were afflicted on every side: conflicts without, fears within. But God, who comforts the depressed, comforted us by the coming of Titus." The coming of Titus was important for Paul to be able to endure the afflictions they encountered in Macedonia. It was in Macedonia where Paul and Silas found themselves in prison before they taught and baptized the jailer in Philippi, Acts 16. The Jewish leaders in Thessalonica ran them out of that city and chased them out of Berea, too. Both those cities are in Macedonia. Still, Paul said the coming of Titus helped them get through a very tough time.
And it wasn't just that Titus came, but that he brought news of others who were concerned about and suffering with Paul. "...and not only by his coming, but also by the comfort with which he was comforted in you, as he reported to us your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me; so that I rejoiced even more" 2 Corinthians 7:7.
As we've pointed out numerous times in this column, you are not in this fight (or these circumstances) alone. God is on your side and that should be enough. Romans 8:31 says that if God is for us no one can be (or stand) against us. However, God is not the only one on our side. Faithful Christians have a whole family to stand beside us in difficult times.
Close, loving relationships are complicated, aren't they? Paul's relationship with the church in Corinth was complicated, too. He had worked with them for a long time and knew them very well and they knew him. In His previous letters to them, Paul had been direct and had criticized them fairly severely on some things. And yet, when times got tough for Paul, his spiritual family in Corinth came to his side, spiritually speaking. 2 Corinthians 7:8, 9: "For though I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it -- for I see that that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while -- I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us."
It's very important for us to note that Paul didn't change his mind about the things he wrote to them. Those were things that needed to be addressed and covered sins that needed to be repented of. Paul didn't want to hurt their feelings, but he wanted them to lose their souls even less. I hope you begin to see the incredible power in God's design for His family here on earth. When we're looking out for each other, we can lovingly point out weaknesses in each other and the result is that sin is repented of and when any one of us is under attack, the rest come to the aid of the one stricken.
I'm so glad that I belong to a family that is that strong; that I don't have to worry that if I preach a sermon that is lovingly (and truthfully) critical of the sin in someone's life, my brothers and sisters won't love me anymore. At the same time, it's a tremendous comfort to me to know that if someone brings my sins to my attention, I don't have to now treat them with suspicion, but can still stand by their side when they need me. It's a great system and we have it because God loves us. He loves you and so do I.
Donnie Bates
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