[Barnabas] encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. Acts 11:23
“Sheer encouragement.” That was the phrase J. R. R. Tolkien used to describe the personal support his friend and colleague C. S. Lewis gave him as he wrote the epic The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Tolkien’s work on the series had been painstaking and exacting, and he’d personally typed out the lengthy manuscripts more than twice. When he sent them to Lewis, Lewis responded, “All the long years you have spent on it are justified.”
Perhaps Scripture’s best-known encourager was Joseph from Cyprus, better known as Barnabas (meaning “son of encouragement”), the name the apostles gave him (Acts 4:36). It was Barnabas who advocated for Paul to the apostles (9:27). Later, when non-Jewish believers began to place their faith in Jesus, Luke tells us Barnabas “was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts” (11:23). Luke describes him as “a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith,” adding that because of him, “a great number of people were brought to the Lord” (v. 24).
The worth of encouraging words can’t be measured. As we offer words of faith and love to others, God—who gives “eternal encouragement” (2 Thessalonians 2:16)—may move through what we share to transform someone’s life forever. May He help us to offer “sheer encouragement” to someone today!
Who would you like to encourage? In what ways might you share God’s love with them through a kind deed or word?
Dear God, please help me to be an encouragement to someone today.
INSIGHT
Everyone in the community of believers in Jesus was afraid of Saul because he was persecuting them (Acts 9:2). Even Ananias—who’d been given explicit instructions from Jesus to go to the house where Saul was staying—was afraid of the man (vv. 10-19). Later, when Saul, “who was also called Paul” (13:9), escaped with his life to Jerusalem, Christ’s disciples refused to allow him to join out of sheer fear of him (9:26). It was Barnabas who convinced Peter and the rest to welcome him as a fellow disciple of Jesus (v. 27), and it was Barnabas who saw potential in him for serving the church at Antioch (11:25-26). Where other believers feared him, Barnabas saw someone who’d been radically changed by Christ. Because of this encourager, Paul was able to begin the ministry that would forever change the trajectory of the church.