All my state shall Tychicus declare unto you, who is a beloved brother, and a faithful minister and fellowservant in the Lord. (Colossians 4:7)

I know some of God’s saints who live very near to him, and they are evidently a tree of life, for their very shadow is comforting, cooling, and refreshing to many weary souls.

I have known the young, the tired, and the downcast to go to them, sit beneath their shade, and pour out their troubles, and have felt it a rich blessing to receive their sympathy, to be told of the faithfulness of the Lord, and to be guided in the way of wisdom.

There are a few good men in this world whom to know is to be rich. Their character is a true and living tree; it is not a mere post of the dead wood of doctrine, bearing an inscription and rotting while it does so, but it is a vital, organized, fruit-producing thing, a plant of the Lord’s right-hand planting.

Not only do some saints give comfort to others, but they also yield them spiritual nourishment. Well-trained Christians become nursing fathers and nursing mothers, strengthening the weak and binding up the wounds of the brokenhearted.

So too the strong, bold, generous deeds of largehearted Christians are of great service to their fellow Christians and tend to raise them to a higher level.

You feel refreshed by observing how they act; their patience in suffering, their courage in danger, their holy faith in God, their happy faces in trial—all these nerve you for your own conflicts.

In a thousand ways the sanctified believer’s example acts in a healing and comforting way to his brethren and assists them in training them above anxiety and unbelief.[1]

Chales Spurgeon

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End notes:

[1] Charles Spurgeon, At the Master’s Feet [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005], December 11.

See also:

COUNT ON IT

THE END OF FOOLISH ATTITUDES

PREACHING THE GOSPEL FOR THE CHRISTIAN