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2 Corinthians: Thankful for the simple things
I find myself walking a lot lately. It’s good to get some exercise, it’s good to get out of the house and it’s good for the dog. I’m very thankful to God for walkies! Such a simple thing.
These last months have been a helpful opportunity to stop and thank God for some of the simplest things, like access to food, medicines, internet…
I’m thankful for walks, for warm days, for rain.
I’m thankful for sleep-ins and a (sometimes) less busy calendar.
Sometimes I find it hard to be thankful, but on other days I realise how many little things there are that I can often take for granted.
We’ve just finished our series on 2 Corinthians on Sundays and it’s not a letter overflowing with thankfulness! However, there is a stunning verse of thanks in chapter 1 that is worth some extra attention:
2 Corinthians 1:3
Praise (or “thanks”) be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort
Paul expresses thankfulness for every measure of who God is.
Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
God is our heavenly Father who cares for us like children.
God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who came to rescue us from our sins.
And God is the God of all comfort. And that simple word “comfort”, used here 10 times, comes from the very word Jesus gives to the Holy Spirit in John 14 – the Paraclete, the helper, the comforter.
Paul’s praise/thanks remind us of the simple centre of our faith – God in three persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the God who is ever-present, as our Father, as our rescuer and as our constant comfort.
Thank God that he reveals himself in this way as three in one and one in three. This helps us to understand who he is, what he has done for us and what he continues to do for us each day.
Our God is our Father.
Our God is the Son our Saviour.
And our God is the Holy Spirit, our Comforter.
Thank God for the complexity of the Trinity, which is God’s simple way of reminding us of who he is every day.
Prayer
Thank you, God, that you are my Father. Thank you, God, that you are Jesus, my Saviour, and thank you God that you are the Holy Spirit, my Comforter in all times. Amen.