Galatians 4:18 But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you. "It is good"; no higher praise than that can be given to it. " It is good" — the very thing that was said of the fairly finished earth, on the morning of Jehovah's rest and pleasure. "It is good" — the very thing that is spoken of God Himself: "Thou art good, and doest good." 1. To be always zealously affected in a good thing is good in itself. Where the heart preserves the ardour of devotion, it will preserve the ardour of enterprise. It will be always at work for the best interests of men. There will be no time for dalliance with temptation, or for the misgiving of unbelief. The active love and the loyal heart will be mutually helpful to each other, and the man will grow like a cedar — his roots wedging themselves close and firm into the Rock of Ages, his branches flinging themselves upward with such graceful aim that no tree in the garden of God shall be like unto him in his beauty. 2. Good in its influences. Who shall estimate the effect upon the progress of the Redeemer's Kingdom, when the Church is filled with the spirit of Christian zeal? Oh! a prospect of ineffable spiritual beauty rises up before the prophetic eye, informed by the spirit of the Master. Each member of the Church becomes a missionary of the truth, and there is neither silence nor faltering in the testimony; the cords of love, which are the bands of a Man, enclose thousands in the gospel fellowship; the Church itself, in growing purity and strength, becomes the dominion of ever-ripening authority; the world, charged by the Word as the living epistles speak it, bows its rank, and its intellect, and its pride, before the feet of Jesus; He reigns whose right it is, over a regenerate people, made willing in the day of His power.; and then cometh the end — the finished mystery of the Cross, the consummated glories of redemption. (W. M. Punshon, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you.WEB: But it is always good to be zealous in a good cause, and not only when I am present with you. |
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