Selfless(ish)

Have you ever done something and regretted it? Spoken an unkind word? Told a lie? Lost your temper? The fact is, we do those things because we are selfish.

In Acts 14, Barnabas and Paul are concluding their first missionary journey. As they return to Antioch, Luke writes that they are preaching and making disciples, strengthening and encouraging the new Christians, and appointing elders in the churches. “When they had arrived and gathered the church together, they began to report all things that God had done with them and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles,” (NASB, Acts 14:27). Notice the wording. They didn’t say, “Look what we did!” Instead they said, “Look what God did with us!”

As we seek to make ourselves selflessly available to God, what acts of selflessness do we see in Barnabas that are worth imitating?

As one of the more famous people in Scripture, Barnabas demonstrated selflessness in every aspect of life. We might be tempted to think, “Wow, that could never be me.” Thankfully, God doesn’t call us to be famous. Living selflessly is about being faithful, and we demonstrate our faith each time we put the needs of others ahead of our own.