AUGUST 25 “ARE YOU A LOUSY COMFORTER?”


   Job responds to his friends, "I have heard many things like this before; you are lousy comforters, all of you. Job is not trying to be mean and guess what?! Neither are his friends! They are simply, "lousy comforters". These are believers, they are well versed believers. Much of what they are saying is true. Their theology is correct, but their application is horrible.  A Christian employee was asked by the secretary why bad things happen to kids; another religious man in the company interrupted with his own answer, "everything comes down to sowing and reaping" and he began to quote scripture. In this Christian's world, everything is black and white. Just like Job's friends; and what a lousy comforter he would be. What would he say to comfort the woman who has a miscarriage? He would no doubt tell her she was reaping some kind of sin. Even Jesus' disciples were caught up in this tract, they asked Jesus, "who sinned, this man or his parents, that he is blind?" Jesus surprised them when He answered, "neither".  The Church is desperate for congregation members that have people skills. Christians that have a discernment to know what to say and what not to say, to know when to say and when not to say something. The time to say it may be wrong, even though the words may be true. The advice may be right, but the setting is wrong and at other times, the words, the setting and the timing; are all wrong! Are you a lousy comforter?  "I don't think so", is more than likely to be your answer. The worst part is that lousy comforters don't realize they are lousy at what they do. Job's friends never went home thinking they were mean or insensitive; they went home thinking, how stubborn Job was. Every Church has a small leak. It's like the tire that keeps needing air every week or so. You put air in and it slowly leaks out. The Church has a small leak and what's causing the leak is lack of people skills in it's members. A Lot of effort can go in to evangelism, but the church will not grow; because for all the people that evangelism draws in, just as many are driven out, by people with long term status in the church, that are dogmatic with those that have come in and are insensitive to what they say or the questions they ask. After all these years of studying God's Word and being Jewish believers, why are Job's friends so lousy at comforting their friend and so deficient in people skills? I believe as with everything else, if we truly want to know the truth, God will reveal it to us. Pride will not open itself up to criticism, but humility will welcome it. The questions to ask and be open to what you hear, is..."Lord am I dogmatic, Lord am I insensitive, Lord do I lack empathy, Lord do I lack people skills, Lord am I a lousy comforter?

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