Are You a Barnabas?
The September sun felt warm on her back as she raked the last of the leaves into a colorful pile at her feet. With a sense of satisfaction, her eyes swept across the expanse of the freshly-raked lawn. Tired muscles protested as she stooped to scoop the last of the leaves into a trash bag. The job had taken the whole afternoon, and she would be feeling its effect tomorrow but it felt good to have done it.
A car pulled into the driveway next door and her neighbor, a retired minister, got out and came toward her. It was apparent that he was going to say something, and she assumed it would be in line with her own thoughts. She was surprised, therefore, when instead of the expected “your lawn sure looks nice,” she heard “I guess you know that won’t do a bit of good. Tomorrow there’ll be just as many again.” Taken aback, she recovered enough to acknowledge that he was right.
Suddenly she felt tired all over. Instead of the satisfaction she had felt only moments before, she now felt foolish for having wasted so much time and energy on a futile cause. It wasn’t that she hadn’t realized that fact from the beginning but it had been a beautiful day and she had enjoyed the physical exercise in the warm autumn sun. And her hard work had made a difference even if it was only temporary. Gathering up her tools, she carried them to the garage as her neighbor turned and walked away, unaware of the effect of his casual remark.
Reflecting on the incident later, the young woman wondered how many times she had unknowingly done the same thing to someone. Had some casual remark of hers robbed another person of their feelings of accomplishment, and diminished their joy? Realizing the likelihood, she prayerfully resolved to be more positive in what she said to others.
“Barnabas” means “son of encouragement”, and in the New Testament we find several references to a follower of Jesus named Barnabas who lived up to his name. What an impact we modern-day followers of Christ could make in our frightened, discouraged society if we spread encouraging words as generously as we do the opposite.
For our words to ring true, however, they must come from a positive mindset; a difficult thing to achieve in our world of negative influences. But as followers of Christ, we can acquire a more positive outlook by focusing on God’s promise of victory even in negative circumstances:
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?...In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him Who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord
(Romans 8:35, 37-39)
Lord, encourage our hearts that we may encourage others.
Teach us to trust You even when there is no obvious reason to do so.
Give us patience to wait expectantly for Your solution.
Help us remember that without exception,
through You we will always be victorious!
Glenda Collins Inman
A car pulled into the driveway next door and her neighbor, a retired minister, got out and came toward her. It was apparent that he was going to say something, and she assumed it would be in line with her own thoughts. She was surprised, therefore, when instead of the expected “your lawn sure looks nice,” she heard “I guess you know that won’t do a bit of good. Tomorrow there’ll be just as many again.” Taken aback, she recovered enough to acknowledge that he was right.
Suddenly she felt tired all over. Instead of the satisfaction she had felt only moments before, she now felt foolish for having wasted so much time and energy on a futile cause. It wasn’t that she hadn’t realized that fact from the beginning but it had been a beautiful day and she had enjoyed the physical exercise in the warm autumn sun. And her hard work had made a difference even if it was only temporary. Gathering up her tools, she carried them to the garage as her neighbor turned and walked away, unaware of the effect of his casual remark.
Reflecting on the incident later, the young woman wondered how many times she had unknowingly done the same thing to someone. Had some casual remark of hers robbed another person of their feelings of accomplishment, and diminished their joy? Realizing the likelihood, she prayerfully resolved to be more positive in what she said to others.
“Barnabas” means “son of encouragement”, and in the New Testament we find several references to a follower of Jesus named Barnabas who lived up to his name. What an impact we modern-day followers of Christ could make in our frightened, discouraged society if we spread encouraging words as generously as we do the opposite.
For our words to ring true, however, they must come from a positive mindset; a difficult thing to achieve in our world of negative influences. But as followers of Christ, we can acquire a more positive outlook by focusing on God’s promise of victory even in negative circumstances:
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?...In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him Who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord
(Romans 8:35, 37-39)
Lord, encourage our hearts that we may encourage others.
Teach us to trust You even when there is no obvious reason to do so.
Give us patience to wait expectantly for Your solution.
Help us remember that without exception,
through You we will always be victorious!
Glenda Collins Inman
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