Philemon 1:7 For we have great joy and consolation in your love, because the bowels of the saints are refreshed by you, brother. No man can ever tell how far the blessing of his small acts of kindness, or other pieces of Christian conduct, may travel. They may benefit one in material fashion, but the fragrance may reach far beyond. Philemon little dreamed that his small charity to some suffering brother in Colosse would find its way across the sea and bring a waft of coolness and refreshing in the hot prison house. Neither Paul nor Philemon dreamed that, made immortal by the word of the former, the same transient act would find its way across the centuries, and would "smell sweet and blossom in the dust" today. Men know not who are their audiences or who may be spectators of their works; for they are all bound so mystically and closely together, that none can tell how far the vibrations which he sets in motion will thrill. (A. Maclaren, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: For we have great joy and consolation in thy love, because the bowels of the saints are refreshed by thee, brother. |
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