Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

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Embracing New Beginnings

Bible Reading: Acts 9:26-31

Key Verse: 27 “But Barnabas took him, brought him to the apostles, and described for them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken boldly in the name of Jesus.”


DEVOTION

While finishing up my last two years of medical school, I became friends with Benji Kurian, a member of Chicago MTC. (If the Gurnee guys are reading this, hope you are well, and I miss you all!) Benji invited me and another friend Sunil to dinner with his client whose name I’ll leave out to maintain his privacy. We came to learn of the story of the individual we’d be meeting up with. He was a former member of one of the most dangerous international gangs in the world. However, he had found God and gave his life to Jesus. He was married and had a family now. We sat at dinner, mesmerized by his transformation story. The testimony we were listening to was a real-life Pauline conversion and we embraced every moment of his new beginning. 
In our passage, Barnabas, “son of encouragement” vouches for Paul, convincing the early disciples to accept Paul as a fellow believer. How can this evil and despicable murderer, formerly named Saul be embraced by the righteous believers? How can we bring him around our family and friends and into our church?
Do we celebrate the sinner-to-saint story or does our pharisaical and self-righteousness stop us from embracing the grace shown by God to the “Pauls” of our lives? I constantly remind myself of 1 Timothy 1:15-16 where Paul describes himself as the worst of sinners. I remind myself that it’s not Paul, but it’s me, Ron whom Jesus came to save. 
As Christians, these kinds of stories intrigue us and embolden our faith because of the radical nature of the love of Christ. This man embraced his new beginning and boldly shared it with us over dinner. However, we would never have had the opportunity to experience this blessing, if it weren’t for Benji’s “Barnabas” moment. He vouched for this man and allowed us to cast aside the potential hypocrisy in our hearts to experience a moment of God’s glory. 
Benji passed away tragically in 2011 at the age of 30. He impacted many of his friends, but for me, this “Barnabas” moment he provided us will always be a reminder of the grace and love of Christ that we must always show to even “the worst of sinners.” 

  PRAYER

 Dear Lord, allow us to be a Barnabas or find a Barnabas to show the world that you are the God of new beginnings. Amen!
 

Thought of the day

“15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. 16 But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.” 1 Timothy 1:15-16

Dr. Ron Jacob
Long Island MTC, New York

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