There is a pivotal scene in the 2006 movie Rocky Balboa (which is much more in line with the Best Picture winning 1976 film Rocky than the “comic book” sequels) in which the retired-from-boxing restauranteur Rocky tells his son, “Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place, and I don’t care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard ya hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward.”
If we are honest with ourselves, we would like life to be all sunshine and rainbows. No valleys, only mountaintops. Smooth sailing, no storms. No health concerns, no weight gains or creaky knees, no taxes or worries of any kind.
But that is not reality. In the real world, illness and disease prevail. Persecution becomes evident. Finances rise, and finances fall. Family members pass away, or as we like to say, are “promoted to the church triumphant.”
The Apostle Paul knew all this. He went from being a part of the inside circle of the Jewish leadership to being persecuted and abused by his former friends. Read his “survey of struggles” in 2 Corinthians 11:22-29. Paul understood the need of comfort. He knew that “life would beat you to your knees,” but he also knew Jesus, who comforted him and enabled him to share that comfort with others.
So it is with us. We have been hurt, isolated, experienced loss, and struggled in more ways than I have time to reference here. But, always, Jesus brings His comfort to us—often times in the form of a friend or even a stranger.
Thanks be to God!