Barnabas, An Encourager

Barnabas, an Encourager

When Saul arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to meet with the believers, but they were all afraid of him. . . . Then Barnabas brought him to the apostles and told them how Saul had seen the Lord on the way to Damascus and how the Lord had spoken to Saul. He also told them that Saul had preached boldly in the name of Jesus in Damascus. Acts 9:26-27

Barnabas was such an effective encourager because he had the God-given ability to see and understand what the Lord was doing around him. He saw people not with critical eyes but the way God did. Just as Joshua and Caleb saw the potential in the land God had promised his people (see Numbers 14:6-8), Barnabas saw with spiritual eyes something of God’s potential in everyone, even in the believers’ former enemy, Saul. The other Christians feared Saul (later known as Paul) and rejected his ministry even though he had been transformed from the hateful and proud persecutor to the loving and humble servant of Christ. But Barnabas spoke up for him and declared what God had deposited in him. Barnabas continued to be a peacemaker and a bridge between Paul and the other apostles, and Paul was embraced and welcomed into the fellowship of believers.

Later, when John Mark failed on a missionary journey and Paul would no longer take him along with him, Barnabas took John Mark under his wing, believed in him, and encouraged him in a dark hour (see Acts 15:36-39). Thus John Mark was restored and encouraged to keep serving God. Are you a Barnabas? If you are willing, you could be just the person God uses to help someone who is in trouble. You could be the bridge of divine grace in another’s spiritual journey.

—CHERI

Lord, I want to be like Barnabas, an encourager. Use me to come alongside people who are in trouble and be an instrument of divine grace for them.

Every time we encourage someone, we give them a transfusion of courage.

—CHARLES SWINDOLL, PASTOR, AUTHOR, EDUCATOR, AND RADIO PREACHER