The Encourager

Acts 15:37-40  Now Barnabas was determined to take with them John called Mark.   But Paul insisted that they should not take with them the one who had departed from them in Pamphylia, and had not gone with them to the work.  Then the contention became so sharp that they parted from one another. And so Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus;   but Paul chose Silas …

           

Barnabas, the son of encouragement, saw things in people that others could not.  He looked past the blemishes and the failures to the heart and the potential. He was so passionate in his belief in others that he was willing time and again to risk his reputation to stand by those whom others had cast off.  

It was Barnabas who stood by the new convert Paul in the presence of the disciples in Jerusalem when they did not believe Paul’s authenticity as a Christian (Acts 9). And it was Barnabas who brought Paul from Tarsus to help him teach the new believers at Antioch. Now it was Barnabas who stood up, even against Paul, for Mark the young man who had deserted them on their first missionary journey. Yes, Mark had made a mistake in his immaturity, but Barnabas saw something in him and was not willing to give up on young Mark.

God honored Barnabas’ risk taking. Mark proved faithful and grew into a mighty servant of the Lord. It was through the pen of Mark that God gave us the first written gospel. Even Paul later recognized the faithfulness of Mark as he requested Mark be sent to him because of his usefulness in Paul’s ministry (1 Tim 4:11). How many times have we given up on young believers because of their immature mistakes? Let us be as Barnabas and see the gold beneath rather than the dirt.