HELPFULNESS 2 - Helpers are very important.

Helpfulness 2 - English files 

Hilfsbereitschaft 2 - German files

Devotional Thoughts about Barnabas

It’s an instructive exercise tracking the appearances of Barnabas throughout the Book of Acts. His first one (4:36,37) shows us that the name by which we all know him is actually a nickname betraying his most obvious virtue: encouragement. He sold a field and gave the money to help poor people in the church.

When Christians in Jerusalem were still afraid of Saul despite the news of his conversion, Barnabas accepted him and then introduced him to the apostles. After Saul had spent some time in his hometown of Tarsus avoiding Jews who wanted to kill him, it was Barnabas who looked him up again and they both helped in the church in Antioch.

The Holy Spirit chose Barnabas and Saul from among the prophets and teachers in Antioch for a special assignment, (13:2-5), and the church sent them out to evan­gelize in Asia Minor. John Mark, a nephew of Barnabas (see Col. 4:12), went along to help them, but unfortunately he soon quit and went home.

When Paul proposed another journey a few years later to visit the believers from their first trip, Barnabas wanted to take John Mark along again, but Paul was against it. As they couldn’t agree, Paul chose Silas for the trip while Barnabas went to Cyprus with his nephew. 

Shortly before his death, Paul spoke highly of John Mark (see 2 Timothy 4:11), which suggests that the young man had matured in the meantime. His uncle had surely played a large role in mentoring him. Lord, please let me see opportunities to help and encourage others for Your glory.

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If you're interested in the lesson files, simply click on the appropriate link above to download them in the desired language. See the Informational Pages in the right column for more about the lesson series. The next post and the next lesson will be the third in the topic Helpfulness.