Day 15 – Spiritual mentoring: I’ll stand by you

Barnabas & Paul.

With the Damascus dust still on his sandals and the persecutions still fresh in his mind, one wonders if Paul would have made it without Barnabas. He fled Damascus after getting wind the Jews were plotting to murder him and he escaped to Jerusalem. To the followers of Christ, the fear of Paul’s murderous threats was still a vivid reality. But his hunger to learn more of the Gospel and to spread the Good News drove him to take a brave step and join the disciples. Because of his past and their own fear, they found it difficult to believe that such a man was standing amongst them and asking to be a disciple. They did not take kindly to his offer of reconciliation. But one man said wait. One man took the time to discern the truth, and one man decided to see the truth and to say: “I’ll stand by you…” That man was Barnabas. Acts 9:27-28 “But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. And he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. So, he was with them at Jerusalem, coming in and going out.”

Barnabas first met Paul when he introduced him to the apostles in Acts 9. Their mentoring relationship began when Barnabas asked Paul to help him teach new followers of Christ in Antioch. Barnabas guided Paul as he grew from a new follower of Christ to one of the most influential promoters of the faith in the early church. As a mentor, Barnabas helped Paul until they were no longer in a “mentor” and “mentee” relationship, but rather as equals. It was then time for Paul to rely on God and implement the tools he had been taught for his ministry. Also, it was time for Barnabas to be a mentor to another: Mark. Read Acts 15:36-39

Prayer: Lord let us be mentored and when we become equipped, help us to confidently start mentoring someone else. Give us a heart wanting to learn and grow in our faith. Help us to “pay it forward” and make good, faithful and obedient followers of Christ. Amen.

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