"For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith: and much people were added unto the Lord" (Acts 11:14)
We ought to thank God for the examples in the Bible of so many men who were good - even though they were not considered great!
We are grateful not that they failed to achieve greatness but that by the grace of God they managed to acquire plain goodness.
These men move quietly enough across the pages of the Bible, but where they walk there is pleasant weather and good companionship. Such was Isaac, who was the son of a great father and the father of a great son, but who himself never rose above mediocrity. Such were Boaz, the ancestor of King David, Joseph the husband of Mary, and Barnabas the son of consolation.
Every pastor knows this kind - the plain people who have nothing to recommend them but their deep devotion to their Lord and the fruit of the Spirit which they all unconsciously display. These are the first to come forward when there is work to be done and the last to go home when there is prayer to be made.
Their presence is a benediction wherever they go. They have no greatness to draw to them the admiring eyes of carnal men but are content to be good men and full of the Holy Spirit!
When they die they leave behind them a fragrance of Christ that lingers long after the cheap celebrities of the day are forgotten.
We extend this tribute to Christian brothers and sisters in spite of the fact that in our world there is not supposed to be anything dramatic in faithfulness or newsworthy in goodness!
~A. W. Tozer~
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