TREM Devotional 14 May 2018 by Dr. Mike Okonkwo – Sons Of Consolation
Topic: Sons Of Consolation [Monday May 14, 2018]
“And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.” Acts 4:36-37
The original name of Barnabas was Joses. It was the apostles who surnamed him Barnabas, the son of consolation. Now when you read that, you will think that it was because he brought money that made him the son of consolation. No! There is much more to this man and his pedigree. He was selfless. Why? Because he saw Jesus. When you see Jesus, everything will lose its value. When you see Him, no one will beg you to serve Him
In the book of Acts chapter 9; Paul the apostle who was a persecutor of the church had just encountered the Lord. Paul was a legalistic person and a preacher of the law. While he was persecuting the church, he ignorantly thought he was serving God. He believed in the laws of Moses and he prided himself on it until he had an encounter with Christ. And when he did, everything changed.
In the book of Acts 9:26, the Bible says: “And when Saul came to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples: but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple”. Now he had become converted. But remember that before he became converted, he was on his way to Damascus to arrest everyone who had ever mentioned the name, Jesus. As far as people in Jerusalem were concerned he was a terror to the church and no one wanted anything to do with him, but Barnabas took him.
We talk about how to shut the back doors of our churches, but one of the reasons why our back doors remain open is that we don’t have leaders that take up the weak, the despised, the misunderstood, the accused, and the misconstrued and help integrate them into the church. Will you be that leader today? Will you be like Barnabas? It is your decision.
Further reading: Acts 9: 1-31
Daily Bible Reading: Morning- 2 Kings 19-21; Evening- John 4:1-30
Written by Dr. Mike Okonkwo; Is the Presiding Bishop of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM); a versatile man of God with over 30 years of dedicated service unto the Lord.
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