I put too much creamer in my coffee this morning.
As I took my first sip, I realized it was gonna be more sweet than I usually like it, but I decided to drink a little bit and then go back and add a little more coffee to get it just to my liking. At that meeting in the middle, I felt like Baby Bear saying…’it was just right’’.
I was reading about Paul this morning and his conversion on the road to Damascus sipping my ‘‘just right coffee”. It is a great story, but I was so intrigued by Barnabas. See, Paul was just a little too much for the Jews after his conversion. They were astonished at how he preached the Gospel of Jesus. They were so upset they set out to kill him.
He was also a little too much for the disciples. They just couldn’t believe that this mean man, who murdered Christians could have such a transformation. They doubted that he was as sweet as he claimed to be…it was a little too much.
It took Barnabas befriending Paul and bringing him to the apostles for them to accept that he had changed. Barnabas was in the middle saying, “it’s just right” to these disciples and helping them to see the change that was brought on by an encounter with Jesus. As I look at Barnabas, and study about what scripture says about him, I can’t help but see his willingness to serve others and that because of his ministry, many people came to know the Lord. I love that he stepped up to bridge the gap between Paul, “the new convert” and the disciples who had walked with Jesus in the flesh. The disciples couldn’t believe that Paul was a changed man and we look at this story and think, “how could they not see the change?”
We do it all the time, too. We discount someone’s encounter with Jesus as “a little too much” because we can’t accept what God did in their life. We are quick to forget where God brought us from because everything is “just right” for us. Just because we may not have had the same sins as someone else, or our conversion experience looks a little bit different than our neighbors, we must be willing to accept new believers. If we see a new believer struggling to find their place in this new life they are living, it is our obligation as a child of God to make them feel as though they belong. Often times, we see believers fall back into their old habits because they feel like they don’t belong in church and they are ostracized from the very place that they should feel most loved and appreciated. We must trust that if God can do it for us, He can do it for them! If Barnabas could trust a former murderer of Christians, I think we can manage to overlook the pasts of those we sit beside on the pews. What God has forgotten and forgiven, we must also be willing to do the same.
They may be too much for your liking, but oh how I want to possess those qualities of Barnabas and encourage, exhort and accept other believers into the body of Christ!
Just like Jesus and loving others…that’s just right!
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