January 12, 2005

“…Now for several days he was with the disciples who were at Damascus, and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” Acts 9:19-20

There had been a huge change in Saul’s life. He had gone from a hater of Jesus to a committed follower of Christ. He had gone from being an adversary of Christ to an advocate of Christ.

But this change was not well received by all. Saul had a bad reputation amongst believers, and rightly so. Many of believers questioned his motives in light of how he had treated other believers in the past.

Act 9:26 reads, “And when he had come to Jerusalem, he was trying to associate with the disciples; and they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple.”

Saul didn’t have many friends. And along comes Barnabas. This isn’t the first time we read of Barnabas in Scripture. In Acts 4:36 we see that Barnabas was a disciple of Christ who was willing to sacrifice his own wealth in order to meet the needs of others. Scripture teaches us that his name means “Son of Encouragement.”

Barnabas was an encouragement to Paul. Scripture says, “But Barnabas took hold of him and brought him to the apostles and described to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had talked to him, and how at Damascus he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus.” Acts 9:27

Barnabas encouraged Saul by publicly affirming him in their presence, and he encouraged the other apostles by testifying to what God had done in Saul’s life. Even later in Scripture (Acts 15:36-41) we see Barnabas encouraging John Mark after he had failed he and Paul on their first missionary journey.

What can we learn from Barnabas and how he treated Saul and John Mark? Through his testimony we see how powerful an encouraging word can be. His words to Paul encouraged him as he began in his journey with Christ. His words to John Mark encouraged him to keep pursuing Christ in spite of his past shortcomings and failures.

As Christians, we need to look for opportunities to encourage one another with our words. We need to be building one another up in the faith.

Today, as you walk with Christ, would you ask Him for an opportunity to encourage someone? Maybe it’s sharing your faith with someone who doesn’t know Christ desires to give them the peace, hope, and love that will satisfy them. Perhaps it is encouraging another Christian who is struggling and just needs an encouraging word. Our words are powerful and can be used in a mighty way to build the body of Christ.