What do you find comforting? Society offers a myriad of “comforting” products, endlessly promising we’ll find contentment and an ease of anxiety if we only indulge. Anyone fall for the “comfort food” promise before? Its claims to make you feel better, but only lasts until you finish your plate.

Perhaps you find comfort in stuff or love or shopping or sports or sex. The promises of comfort and contentment flow from almost every angle in society, yet they all share a common denominator—they’re temporary.

They leave us disappointed, and often worse off than we were before.

So where do we find true and lasting comfort? Does it even exist?

Actually, it does. And the key to unlocking it in our lives is found within the pages of Scripture, particularly in 2 Corinthians 4.

Therefore do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Though it may not seem forthrightly applicable, this passage reveals a crucial truth in our search for lasting comfort.

Physical begets temporal; faith begets eternal.

In simple terms, our longing for comfort, peace, and contentment is eternal, not physical. Feelings aren’t tangible, nor can they be measured by science. They exist in a different realm, and need to be met by a solution in that realm.

To tackle a nonphysical issue (comfort), we must engage nonphysical solutions. Food cannot by nature cure an emotional or psychological problem. The same is true for material goods, substance abuse, or relationships. It would be like going to a financial advisor for your tooth ache. It doesn’t make sense.

Scripture, on the other hand, provides us with a little solution called truth and it exists outside the world of temporary and tangible. When we align ourselves with it, truth provides us with eternal perspectives and solutions. It hands us the key for lasting comfort and unceasing peace.

In order to achieve it, we must do three things:

1. Realize there’s a difference between temporal and eternal
2. Run from the temporal
3. Embrace the eternal

Intellectually asserting to a truth doesn’t mean it’s realized in our lives. We must not only consciously admit the distinction between temporal and eternal; we must emotionally, psychologically and willfully own it as a foundational piece in our lives.

Then, we must purposefully run from the temporal so we can fully embrace the eternal. Simply embracing the eternal isn’t enough. We must run from the empty promises we’re used to falling for so we can embrace the truth in Christ.

Comfort (in any situation) requires our focus to be shifted from this world (the temporal) to Jesus (the eternal). Our perspectives must begin aligning with His in order for His truth to be realized and manifested in our lives. We may not always be physically comfy, but comfort on the inside far outweighs temporary unease on the outside.

What will you choose today? Fleeting comfort from the tangible, or lasting solace from the eternal?

Tags: comfort, comfort food, comfy, emotions, eternal, faith, feelings, fleeting, God, lasting, longing, perspective, promise, reality, Scripture, solace, temporary, truth, wholistic