Experience: S2 - Day 23

The risk of investing in others

Acts 13:1 Among the prophets and teachers of the church at Antioch of Syria were Barnabas, Simeon (called “the black man”), Lucius (from Cyrene), Manaen (the childhood companion of King Herod Antipas), and Saul. 2 One day as these men were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Appoint Barnabas and Saul for the special work to which I have called them.” 3 So after more fasting and prayer, the men laid their hands on them and sent them on their way.

Most scholars believe that Barnabas and Saul spent about a year with the believers in Antioch.

Affirmation - thanks to Barnabas, Saul is now accepted even by some of the people he had previously sought to persecute before his encounter with Jesus.

A changed life - sometimes you question, which is why it helps so much to have people like Barnabas who believe in you and encourage you.

Over the course of my life, I’ve had these types of encouragers.  People who affirmed the call of God they saw in me.  People like my junior high maintenance man, who regularly told me he thought I’d be a youth pastor one day.  Or my high school youth pastor, who was willing to invest in me, make me a leader, and even hire me for a couple of summers to work at the church and serve the youth.  People like my second boss out of college who believed I was called for even greater things.  And people like my colleagues at another university who knew what I was called to do even before I was.

Each of us has the incredible opportunity to be on the lookout for God’s call and His work in the lives of those around us.  A word of encouragement, a note of affirmation, can make a lifelong difference in the life of another.  So let me encourage you to be on the lookout for how you can affirm God’s presence and call in the lives of those around you, and then challenge you to take that risk and find ways to invest in them so that they might hear God’s voice even through you and answer His call.

Questions:

1. If you’ve had someone who believed in you, affirmed you, saw God in you, what did they say or do that helped communicate that belief to you?
2. Is there someone, or several someone’s, in your life that you’ve seen God work in, and/or believe God is calling to do something for His kingdom?
3. What is one way this week you could affirm them and offer them a word of encouragement?  One way you could tell them how you see God in them?