Fleeting things done for Christ are eternal. . . . The eternal things are the things done for Christ. They are eternal in His memory who has said, “I will never forget any of their works,” however they may fall from man’s remembrance. . . . Our influence for good blends with a thousand others, and may not be traceable beyond a short distance, still it is there: and no true work for Christ. . . goes to swell the aggregate of forces which are working on through the ages to bring the perfect Order. . . . So little do we know where our work will terminate. Our only concern is where it begins. Let us look after this end, the motive; and leave God to take care of the other, the consequences.

Alexander Maclaren, The Epistle of Paul to the Colossians and Philemon (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1890), 380-381. [FREE DOWNLOAD]