Add to faith, goodness…

By Sidharth Mohandas

INTRODUCTION

“For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith, goodness…” [2 Peter 1:5]. Peter starts with faith, the foundation of Christian living, and tells us the ingredients that we need to add to it. He tells us later why we need to add these ingredients: “For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” [2 Peter 1: 8]

BARNABAS

In this issue I am going to deal with the first quality that Peter asks us to add — GOODNESS.

From my study of Scriptures I came to realize that goodness and encouragement are closely related. A person filled with the goodness of the Lord will be a person who has the ability to encourage others. A classic example for a person who was filled with the goodness of the Lord is Barnabas. This is what the Scripture tells us about Barnabas: “He was a GOOD man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord” [Acts 11:24] Studying this man’s life might help us discover some of the characteristics of “goodness”.

The Scriptures tell us that Barnabas’ real name was Joseph. Since was such as an encouragement to the apostles, he was re-named by the apostles as “Barnabas” which means “Son of Encouragement” [Acts 4:36]. As I was reading through the passages that related to him, I could see why he was called by that name.

The apostles sent Barnabas to encourage the new believers at Antioch:

“News of this reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.” [Acts 11:23]

We often find evangelists coming and presenting the Gospel- and leaving the newly converted believers with no one to shepherd them. Whenever I present the Gospel to someone and when the person commits his or her life to the Lord, I make it a point to visit, e-mail or send text messages to that person regularly and equip him/her with the Word. We have to be patient with them as with a child, by clarifying their doubts, encouraging them to trust in the Lord for all things and to be true to Him with all their hearts. We also need to be careful not to over feed them with a lot of knowledge from the Scriptures, which may lead to “indigestion”. The Holy Spirit knows what they can digest, and so we must rely on Him to weigh our words.

Getting back to Barnabas, we know that his ministry was flourishing and expanding, but it amazed me to read this verse: “Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch.” Barnabas had been in the faith for a longer period than Saul, and I’m sure he knew within his heart that Saul would have a greater ministry than him. But here is goodness- not only that Barnabas went looking for Saul, but also that he brought Saul to Antioch to minister with him. In the age we live in, preachers are interested only in promoting their own ministries and would do nothing or very less to promote a fellow preacher’s ministry. What they need is a good dose of goodness!

GOODNESS NEVER GIVES UP

We read in Acts 13:13 that John Mark deserted Paul and Barnabas at Pamphylia and left for Jerusalem. Later a sharp disagreement arose between Paul and Barnabas when Barnabas said he wanted to take Mark along with them for their missionary journey.

“Barnabas wanted John, also called Mark, with them, but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus…” [Acts 15:37-39]

Notice, Goodness always gives a second chance. Barnabas didn’t give up on Mark even though Paul did. He encouraged Mark to press on to be faithful to the Lord. Later we read from Paul’s own words what this encouragement did to Mark: “…Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry” [2 Timothy 4:11] Paul himself testifies to the change that was brought about in Mark’s life!

The next time you fail the Lord, friend, know that HE IS GOOD. I’m sure you’ve said that many times without actually meaning it. But let me tell you why He is: He is good because He will always encourage you to try again no matter how many times you’d failed Him and HE IS NOT READY TO GIVE UP ON YOU! Hallelu-Yah!

Today, beloved, I urge you as Peter did, to add to your faith, goodness.

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