Encourage One Another

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Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

1 Corinthians 13:7

I have long had a great appreciation for a relatively obscure New Testament figure named Barnabas. His original name was Joseph, but when he came to believe in Jesus, the apostles called him Barnabas, meaning “son of encouragement” (Acts 4:36). Later passages suggest why.

After Saul of Tarsus, a Pharisee and notorious persecutor, was confronted by the Lord on the road to Damascus, he attempted to join the disciples in Jerusalem, but they were afraid of him. They didn’t believe he had become a disciple of Jesus. They thought he was perpetrating a ruse intended to trap them. “But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus” (Acts 9:27). Barnabas had either been approached by Saul or had been told that Saul was trying to make contact with the church, and so sought him out. In either case, he was willing to believe the best about him when everyone else was suspicious. However it happened, it speaks well of him, and shows that he was aptly named the “son of encouragement.”

Later, after the two men had labored together in the gospel, they had a falling out over John Mark. Paul said, “Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord and see how they are.” Barnabas was all for it, and also all for taking Mark with them. But Paul objected because Mark had deserted them during their previous missionary journey. They disagreed so strongly that they “separated from each other” (Acts 15:39). Paul chose Silas to accompany him, and Barnabas ended up taking Mark. Apparently, he saw something in Mark that Paul didn’t see, and he encouraged him by giving him a second chance. Mark ended up proving himself worthy of a second chance. So much so, that many years later, Paul wrote to Timothy, “Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry” (2 Tim. 4:11). How much of that usefulness for ministry was nurtured because of the encouragement of Barnabas in giving him a second chance, and the further encouragement he gave all along the way? People tend to flourish through encouragement and wither under criticism.

He also proved to be instrumental in the incorporation of the Gentiles into the church, warmly welcoming and encouraging them, when it was not yet widely understood or appreciated that this had always been God's design (Acts 11:19-26). 

We should make it a habit to look for the best in people, to hope for the best, to believe the best...and to verbalize it. In a world of critics, cynics, and naysayers, dare to be a Barnabas. Encourage your husband, your wife, your children, your friends. Don’t be quick to judge or find fault. Don't be quick to say, “You can't do it,” “You're not good enough,” “It's too hard for you,” “It'll never happen.” Look instead to encourage, reassure, strengthen, and inspire. 

“Encourage one another and build one another up.”

1 Thessalonians 5:11

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