This topic was the subject of a recent bible study that I have been thinking about and believe to be an important issue to consider. It’s Barnabas.

We meet Barnabas in Acts chapter 4 vs. 36 where we discover his name is actually Joseph. Barnabas is a name the apostles gave Joseph when he sold his property and gave them the money. He is not as notorious as Ananias and Sapphira, the story that immediately follows. While writing this I realized that the story of Ananias and Sapphira really should be read to include Barnabas just before. See, it wasn’t even the fact that they only gave half, it was that they gave, and on top of it lied, just to inflate their position in the Christian community. They greatly exaggerated their sacrifice in an attempt to gain respect and in that case it was a death sentence for them. That warning rings loud and clear.

We should take notice of Joseph (called Barnabas). You see Barnabas means Son of Encouragement. His gift to the apostles encouraged them and began something in Barnabas as well. We meet him again in Chapter 9 of Acts. In verse 26 the Bible says that Saul tried to join the disciples but they doubted his sincerity and were afraid to accept him. Barnabas stepped in and spoke for Saul and played a key role in unifying the disciples with Saul. In Acts chapter 11 he is sent to Antioch to see what God was doing there and it says: “he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. 24He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord. ” At which point the term Christian gets coined. WOW… This guy is tops…

The story continues, after Antioch he goes to Tarsus “to look for Saul”. He finds him and they work together and “taught great numbers of people”… This is amazing. Barnabas is truly a man empowered by God.

In Chapter 13 the Holy Spirit says “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Shortly after in verse 9 “Saul, who was also called Paul” is filled with the power of God and blinds Elymas the lying sorcerer. After that moment it is no longer Barnabas and Saul, but Paul and Barnabas. As he steps back for Paul to come forward Barnabas continues to be used mightily for God and support Paul all the way to Acts 15, when they part ways… Why? Ironically because Paul did not trust John Mark (possibly Barnabas’ cousin) and Barnabas insisted that he be allowed to join them. I don’t expect I should need to explain the irony.

In my opinion Joseph (called Barnabas) may well be one of the mightiest figures in the early church for his ability to stand behind someone with little regard for his own recognition. Much like John the Baptist who said referring to Jesus: “He must become greater, I must become less” I believe he was the kind of man that is truly after God’s own heart. Paul wrote a major part of the New Testament and Barnabas has no book attributed to him, but last I checked the number of books one publishes is not the basis for seating at the wedding feast of The Lamb. Barnabas will likely be in one of those seats near Jesus.

Don’t fall into the trap of assuming the guy in front is the guy closest to God. The word says he who would be greatest must be your servant. He flips human values on their head, and Joseph (called Barnabas) got it. If you read Paul’s later writings he pokes a bit at Barnabas talking about him being led astray and such, but he seems to always respect him and remain loyal. Just look at how he criticizes Peter, who by-the-way, also was “divinely inspired.” I imagine there is a lot to that relationship we will never know. Since it exists in the infallible scripture many assume Barnabas must have been led astray if Paul says so… I contend that it is possible that Paul may have still been holding a grudge over the whole John Mark thing. Whatever you think about that I’m sure most of you will agree that Joseph (called Barnabas) is one of the top Bible heroes and probably deserves a bit more Sunday school reference than what I remember.

-ICA

Jennifer Knapp has a sweet song based on Psalm 20:7… It’s a great song but the verse is a super IMPORTANT reminder. “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.”

Replace chariots and horses with all kinds of things. Money, science, insurance, police… Whatever it is it may displease God if it is disproportionate.

Moving to the 3rd world has left us with a lot less to trust in. Don’t get me wrong I certainly haven’t gotten over my 30+ years of being conditioned to believe that my challenges are someone else’s responsibility but it is a start.

I was having a conversation the other day about an incident where someone’s dog mauled two colleagues of ours, one needed surgery. The owner did not so much as help with the medical bills. I can just imagine what would happen in the U.S. if someone’s dog did so much damage to an innocent visitor.

What about politicians? Don’t we sometimes trust too much in politicians? Seriously, I may be a bit out of touch but I keep up a bit with the speeches and opinions. The people that become leaders in the U.S. have become experts at saying what people want to hear. For some reason tooting their own horn in ways that would be unacceptable in normal society has become a requirement! Why is that? What would you think of someone who said something like “I’m better than he/she is.” … “I’m smarter than they are.” … “I know better than anyone else.” Who does that? Only a miracle will leave us with a good leader because our system does its best to weed out anyone who would simply tell the truth. One or two issues like immigration or the economy become the entire criteria. How can we put so much trust in politicians?

The Lord our God is the only thing in our life that is completely trustworthy. Even people we think are our friends can disappear or even become an enemy. Usually based on just one point of contention with little regard for the rest of the package.

So CNN reported that tragically South Africa is dealing with power outages of up to 2 hours a day! It is crippling the economy by bankrupting small businesses and setting the country back decades. Sorry, it made me chuckle. We are at up to 8 hours a day with no idea if it will get worse or better. It is generally believed that the reason for this is not a shortage of electricity since we have plenty of hydro resources. No, it is generally believed (and partially proven) that the folks in charge sell it to another country for less per unit than to their own citizens. Why would they do that? Well because the monetary income from the other country creates something that looks like a GNP, not only that but that money has very little regulation so they can use it however they’d like. Even if it means to buy themselves another big house. Not a lot of trusting politicians going on here.

Here we can’t trust the police, we can’t trust the government, we can’t even trust the vendor that just sold us something. “No returns” is the norm here with very few exceptions. In fact in this society there is even very little outrage over some random group blocking the road and charging “taxes” to use it.

Strangely that seems to be the result of not being able to trust each other. There aren’t too many nationals here that trust their government, but they don’t trust each other, and many see no reason to be trustworthy. It’s pretty sad.

Don’t get me wrong, the west has a good thing … I just hope you will recognize that God is the only thing we can completely and fully trust. The belief that everyone around us owes us something really makes life miserable. A place like this can really enhance our sense of humor and in the end, even with the lights out for 8 hours a day, we enjoy life just as much … If not more.