Everyone Needs a Barnabas - or Maybe You Are The Barnabas

So you have had a while to figure out who your BTF (best true friend) is and hopefully haven't been too hard on those who didn't make that short list. This week I have been thinking about who encourages me - who is my Barnabas. In the book of Acts we read about one of Paul's helpers who is called Barnabas. Barnabas is an interesting figure because when he and Paul first connect it is Barnabas who is the mentor, caring for and leading Paul, or as he was at that point - Saul. As time passes, Saul becomes Paul and student becomes teacher, follower becomes leader. Now everyone knows Barnabas for being the encourager - but I want to think about this first part of his relationship with Paul for a moment.

Have you ever had a mentor or teacher who you have looked up to, who has taught you, nurtured you, cared for you? Have you ever reached that point with that individual where you moved from being the student to the position of taking the lead in the friendship? Have you ever moved from being mentee to being mentor?

This is a very difficult transition usually, and not for the mentee, but for the original mentor. There is something in us that seems to always remember each other as we first met each other. I will turn 40 this year and yet I have people who knew me when I was a teenager who still look at me and treat me like I was 13. They struggle with the idea that the young upstart who they taught memory verses to has grown into a young man who now teaches others. What I do for the Lord today is in part due to their diligence in the past, yet in their mind I will always be that 13 year old upstart.

How do we move past this? Well, the decision to move past this scenario lies with Barnabas. Barnabas was an encourager. He looked at the potential he saw in the life of Saul and was right there with him as he transitioned to become Paul and start out on his missionary journeys. Barnabas could have decided to stamp his feet and claim seniority, but he didn't. He recognised the gifting the Lord had put in Paul and he released and encouraged him to be all he could be.

When Barnabas got out of the way then Paul flourished and his ministry exploded. This does not mean that Barnabas checked his brain at the door - he had conflict with Paul, disagreement with Paul and even sided against him in one of the discussions, but he did it while he encouraged him.

Are you a mentor to someone today? Have you poured into that person and helped them become who they are today? Are there signs that you need to step aside and continue your encouragement - not from ahead, but now from behind?

My encouragement to you - don't be afraid, don't be insecure, don't see it as negative, see it as the next step in yours and their development - and then step aside. Stepping aside is not mean stepping away, it means that your encouragement comes in a new way, and the ministry opportunities might just explode - if Paul and Barnabas are anything to go by.