For we have great joy and consolation in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed by you, brother.--Philemon 1:7
I sooooo want to be like Philemon. my mind off me and my problems and my focus on walking rightly with my God and being a blessing to those He has placed in front of me.
What a statement Paul makes here about who Philemon was. He is a refresher of the saints. He is one who has encouraged the hearts of others by his love. He has given them not just joy and consolation but much joy and consolation. People who are suffering, afflicted, in trouble, and struggling have found him (Philemon) to be a blessing!! Philemon brought hurting people rest...His care and service for them refreshed their hearts and brought them solace.
Philemon was a man of kindness..the kind of man that was a blessing to those who were around him. The kind of many whom others wanted to be around. If I am going to leave any kind of mark on this world or legacy for my God that is the one I would want.
"Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. 14 But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. 15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him."--Colossians 3:12-17
Quote from Ann Voskamp’s The Broken Way
“And these acts of kindness, gifts of grace, they start a cascade of grace to fill a multitude of canyons in a hurting world. Maybe there’s no such thing as a small act of giving. Every small gift of grace creates a love quake that has no logical end. It will go to the ends of the earth and change the world and then it will break through time and run on into eternity.”
