We All Need A Barnabas

Pop quiz -- who is Barnabas? Fine, smarty pants, you got that much right -- he did preach and prophesy with Paul. What else do you know about him??? Yeah, that's what I thought! You know about as much about him as most of us, which isn't much.

Today at my Women in Ministry luncheon, our devotion was about this mysterious man of ministry (HisGirl, that sounds like a character from one of your youth programs!). There are a smattering of passages in Scripture which show Barnabas in action, and he is actually someone worth taking notice of from time to time.

My favorite passage that we looked at was Acts 4:32-36. Specifically, he debuts in v. 36. Barnabas' given name was actually Joseph (gee, what a rare name, right?). We also know that he was a Levite (Sing4Joy, do you think he was a cohen?!?) who selflessly sold a field and gave the proceeds to the apostles to be distributed amongst the needy. That's STILL not what I love about Barnabas. Here it is: his name means, "Son of Encouragement." Wow! I am really into names and their meanings, and I love this little factoid about him. During the devotion, we read further passages from Acts that highlighted Barnabas doing just that, being an encourager for Saul/Paul.

We were then asked to consider who has been a Barnabas to us and what their encouragement has done for us. Futhermore, we were asked to consider who might consider us a Barnabas. I had two thoughts on this:

1) I have lots of people that I call acquaintances, even many people I call friends, but a very small group of "inner circle" friends that function as Barnabases to me. (Is the plural of Barnabas "Barnabii?" I just don't know...lol) Anyhoo, I could list three off the top of my head, but the first one that always, without fail, springs to mind is Sing4Joy. She is the embodiment of Galatians 6:2 for me: "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." Her spiritual gift is definitely that of nurturing and empathizing, and she has come alongside me, taken my yoke, and hitched up to help me with my burdens. She cannot take them away, but she sure makes going through life a lot easier. There are things that she has not experienced and can't understand from that perspective (thank God), but her encouraging, empathizing nature has been such a blessing that I can't imagine how the last 2 or 3 years of my life would have gone had God not put her in my path. Barnabases don't make life easier, they help us to refocus and get back on the horse. They allow us to be who we are, love us unconditionally, ask us questions, direct us back into Scripture, and we are better people for having them in our lives.

2) Oh dear God, don't tell me I'm a Barnabas to someone else! I feel like such a selfish pig almost 100% of the time! I feel like so many times I'm the textbook example of what not to do/say/feel, etc. Ask Sing4Joy about which part of the body of Christ I said I was the other day...HA HA! I know many people are very kind to tell me that I inspire them or they don't know if they could do what I'm doing, etc. I don't feel like they've seen the full picture of who I am somedays, but then again, I'm sure everyone feels like that to a certain extent. I can be a very negative person, but I always call that "realism." Is it realism or pessimism? I don't know. When I hold the yardstick up to myself by which I measure others, I just feel like I'm always coming up short. Despite how much I can be down on myself, what I took away from it was this: I need to be more conscious of the example I'm setting, because I just might be the only example of Christ someone sees in a day, and I sure don't want to mess that one up just because I was having (another) bad day.

So who is your Barnabas?