Son of Encouragement

March 5

(Acts 4:36 NIV) “Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), {37} sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet."

(2 Corinthians 9:10-13 NIV) "Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. {11} You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. {12} This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. {13} Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else."

(Romans 12:1 NIV) "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship."

Today we meet a man named Joseph, who later became known as Barnabas. Eventually, he teamed up with a convert named Paul, and together they took the gospel to much of the Gentile world around the Mediterranean Sea. Barnabas didn’t start out to be an apostle. He started out as just an ordinary guy with a generous heart -- a man who had something he was willing to give. He stepped up and gave what he had, while he was still alive, and in the process, modeled what it means to be a “living sacrifice”. Today, we think people are generous if they give their stuff away after they die. But after we die, we no longer need our stuff. Generosity is not giving away something that we don’t need. Generosity is giving away something we could still use, simply because someone else has a need for it. This is the kind of generosity that will make you a “son of encouragement”. -- Friar Tuck’s Word of the Day