Coincidence?

            I think not. What are the odds for two unrelated Christian Internet ministries to produce topically related posts on the same day? Both Daily Manna from the Net and Our Daily Bread ran Scripture references about "Comfort."
            Our Daily Bread used 1 Corinthians 1:3-7, where the Apostle instructed the church to comfort others with the comfort Christ gave us. Anne Cetas' summation aptly stated, "God doesn’t comfort us to make us comfortable; He comforts us to make us comforters."
            Then, Daily Manna drove the theme home with Isaiah 40:1-3, where the Eternal One showed compassion to Israel by instructing the prophet to comfort them, rather than condemning them, which they always richly deserved.
            In the same way, the Father of all comforts demonstrated His love, mercy, and grace by His perfect sacrificial act referenced in John chapter three. This passage not only comforts those of us who have claimed His perfect sacrifice, but carries with it the context of 1 Corinthians 1:3-7.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer; and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort.
(2 Corinthians 1:3-7 NASB)

            What an unfathomable honor and privilege we have in sharing the benefit of Christ's sacrifice. And what an awesome responsibility we have to pass along its beauty and blessing as well. To paraphrase Anne Cetas' summary, "God doesn't save us to gain the privilege of our eternal presence; He saves us that we will pass on the joy of His gospel to others."
            God's word contains no coincidence, but only the perfectly consistent good news of His abiding love.