Rev D W B Somerset
Someone plants an obscure sprig in the ground. It grows unnoticed and, months or years later, yields a beautiful rich heavy coral rose. The reward is infinitely beyond the labour bestowed, and bears little relation to what it came from. The Lord has turned mud and broken roots into transcendent beauty.
So it is with the work of the gospel. The preacher proclaims Christ crucified, perhaps in a halting or monotonous way. The Lord takes the Word and implants it in the heart of a sinner; and at the Day of the resurrection a most glorious saint will appear, “conformed to the image of His Son” (Rom 8:29). The Lord uses human instruments to do small parts of the work, but He is the One who crowns their labour with glory and beauty.