I recently listened to a Tim Keller sermon and one thing that he said really stuck with me: we have to preach out of our suffering.
Over the past year or so I have developed a keen repugnance to empty preaching, and I feel as though God has transformed my heart to discern truth from falsehood in this area. Don’t get me wrong– I used to be one of these preachers. I would spout off scripture and platitudes in hopes of encouraging but more likely with the underlying motivation of being viewed as “spiritual” or “put together.” I felt like I was better than others because I knew the promises of God and could recite them.
But now I wonder if I did more harm than good at times. That if in my pride, I wasn’t really listening to the person and being there for them in the way they needed, in the way that Jesus would have been. I wonder if I was making it more about me than about them– and about Him.
God has humbled me greatly. I am not so quick to speak as I once was. Rather, I have seen the power of presence. Presence with others in their pain, and words of comfort and wisdom out of my own. People who have suffered help people who are suffering.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.
2 Corinthians 1:3-5
I am immediately drawn not to the one who has much to say about my problems, but the one who understands my problems and can meet me in them. I pray that I can be that person for others. We don’t need more lectures. We need the presence of people.
In a suffering world, we have the privilege of providing hope to those who don’t have it out of our own suffering and overcoming. Especially now, we can reach out with a listening ear and words of hope and encouragement.
rhythms of grace 