I know, a “consolation prize” is for losers, right? It’s for the team that wasn’t able to win the game. It’s for the player who wasn’t able to win the match. It’s for the competitor who just didn’t quite measure up.
Well, that all may be true, but winner or loser there is a consolation that we must prize above all else. Let’s open the Bible and read, together:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of all mercies and the God of consolation, who consoles us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction with the consolation with which we ourselves are consoled by God.”
2 Corinthians 1:3-4
I’d like us to focus on two things.
First, notice that our “God of consolation” consoles us “in all our affliction.” Affliction will come. That’s life. There will be conflict. There will be grief. There will be sickness. There will even be persecution, at points in time. As Christians, we are not preserved from these things. We are preserved in the midst of them. Loss, disappointment, and suffering are natural in our human experience. Natural in the Christian experience is the consolation of God. That is to be prized.
The ministry of the Holy Spirit is a ministry of both conviction and comfort. We can be thankful that we have the Holy Spirit to bring to mind the teaching of Jesus in the face of our gravest circumstances. He reminds us that we are equipped for every work. He reminds us that we are on a path of victory. He reminds us that we have the power to change. He reminds us that we are not abandoned or forsaken, when we feel as if we are walking alone.
That brings us to point two. Notice that our consolation comes with purpose. Paul writes that we are consoled in all our affliction, “so that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction…” Our consolation opens doors of great privilege to us. In the midst of this ministry, God, the Holy Spirit, is equipping us to fulfill the ministry of consolation ourselves. In my humble opinion, there is no greater ministry that fulfills our call to love one another that the ministry of consolation. What a privilege to witness to the faithfulness of God in the midst of our most tragic circumstances. What a privilege to love our neighbor, offering comfort and wisdom in the face of suffering. What a magnificent way to communicate the love of God, reaching into the lives of those around us and offering empathy and compassion in the shared human experience of suffering.
Prize your consolation. In fact, clear the trophy shelf of all those first place awards and put the consolation of God on display. We need not look far to find those with whom we can share consolation. We are surrounded by people who are longing for a listening ear, a shoulder on which to lean, a hand to grasp, a table to share.
AND…don’t mistake consolation as the easy way or cheap way. Unlike those cheap little participation ribbons, the willingness to console, when offered in the spirit of Christ, will cost you everything. He emptied Himself of all but love for it. May we do the same.
Happy Wednesday!