God Is the Source

Every parent knows the feeling of looking at a son or daughter and saying, “Where did they get that?” We wonder where they got that thing they said or did. If you have ever said that, you are probably the only person you know who doesn’t know the answer to that because usually our kids are copying us. Who came first, the parent or the child?

Second Corinthians 1:2-3 says, “Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort.” So, God is the Father of the Lord Jesus and if I am a child of God by faith in Christ Jesus, He is my Father in that sense. He is also the Father of mercies. God is the source, the Father, of anything we should be.

We want to be virtuous, noble, able, and so on, but that is not what we are by nature. Many mornings I wake up and I think, “I need to do this better and that better and something else better than I did yesterday. Lord, help me to be a better person.” If it is left up to me and my native strength and ability, I am in trouble. God is the Father of anything I should be.

First, He is the God of all comfort. I Corinthians 1:3-4 says, “Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.” So, God is the source of all comfort. Sometimes you may wonder why has God allowed things in your life that are so difficult? I don’t know the answer to that question other than to say that when you go through difficulties, you are better prepared to be of comfort to other people than you currently are. That is God’s comfort through you.

A politician has said, “Never waste a good crisis.” Socialists, for instance, love to seize on crises by which they can make government even stronger than it was before. Sometimes the problems they have as a result are worse than the problem they were solving. A child of God should realize that one benefit of difficult times is God’s equipping him to be of help to other people.

In II Corinthians 7:6 Paul is talking about the difficult times he had had. Then he says, “Nevertheless God, that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus.” So, who comforted Paul, was it God or Titus? The answer is yes. God comforted Paul through Titus. In II Corinthians 7:13 he says, “Therefore we were comforted in your comfort.” So, we are to fellowship in sufferings and sometimes we have fellowship in the comfort that comes through us from Christ.

Second, God is the God of all giving. II Corinthians 9:7 says we are to give “every man as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.” Why does God love a cheerful giver? It is because He is a cheerful giver.

Verse 8 says, “God is able to make all grace about toward you.” Verse 10 mentions “he that ministereth.” Verse 11 says we are “enriched in everything to all bountifulness, which causeth thanksgiving to God.” God is the one who receives that thanks because He is the one who gives through me. He produces thanksgivings unto God. In verses 12 and 13 we are to glorify God. Verse 15 ends on a high note, “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.” In other words, we can only give what we get.

So many times we think we are amazingly virtuous because of some gift we gave, but the truth is God gives through us. I’m aware of almost every noble deed I ever do because I am kind of stuck on myself, and think, “Wow, you did a good thing. You gave that person something.” God loves a cheerful giver because God is the cheerful giver, the one who provides me everything I have to even give in the first place. God is the cheerful giver so He is the example and the source of all that I could give.

So, whom do you bless? II Corinthians 1:3 says, “Blessed be God, even the Father.” He is the Father of all comfort and giving. God blesses us and we are to bless God. It is not as if we are equal here, as if we are doing the same thing. No, God blesses us when He provides. We bless God when we acknowledge His blessing on us. So, pass it on and pass it forward. Look at what God has provided for you and what a marvelous life it is to live in thanksgiving. What a terrible life to live in entitlement where you think people owe you thanks. How much better it is to thank God and acknowledge what He has given to you and wishes to give through you to other people. Whatever you need to be, God is the source. He is the Father of anything we should be. He is the God of all comfort and all giving.