Some Commercials Are More Biblical Than I Thought

Some Commercials Are More Biblical Than I Thought

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4 New International Version

I saw an insurance commercial that presented an unusual idea. A lady stopped a man from walking into oncoming traffic. The recently rescued man then proceeded to help a person that unknowingly dropped her child's toy. The nearly toy-less woman then moved a cup of coffee to a safe distance from a man that was about to spill it on himself. In excellent film making style, the woman at the beginning of the commercial saw this kindness and stepped outside to stop a car accident.

This simple commercial presented the idea that when we receive something, we pay it forward. The people in the commercial were recipients of kindness so they repeated it to others. Paying it forward is a cool idea and I think it is more biblical than most people realize. Kindness is not a new idea. It isn't something new that some marketing agent thought of. Pay it forward is an idea that has its roots in scripture.

In this verse, we learn compassion and comfort not just for our own gain, but for the gain of others. With God, we are never recipients of His gifts for our own comfort and purposes, but we are recipients of His gifts so that we can pass them on. We undeservedly received forgiveness, so we pass it on the same way. We received grace, so we pay it forward. We have the gift of godly wisdom, so we teach it to others. We received the good news gift of Christ, so we pass it on.