14 MAY
BE A BRIDGE
“But Barnabas took him (Paul) and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus.”
(Acts 9:27)
Barnabas was a bridge between Paul and the apostles at a time the apostles did not think they could trust Paul because of his earlier violent persecution of Christians. He stuck out his neck and risked his life to confirm Paul’s true conversion. He was also a bridge between Paul and John Mark. John Mark had left them and returned home after their first missionary journey and Paul was not ready to take him along when he came back; so Barnabas took him. Paul and Mark were later reunited in missionary efforts.
Barnabas was also one of the first to sell his possessions to help Christians in Jerusalem.
God needs bridge-builders to promote peace, make a way for others, especially the weak and to fulfil His purpose. Will you be one?
THE BRIDGE BUILDER – A poem by Will Allen Dromgoole.
| 1 | An old man going a lone highway, | 4 | The builder lifted his old gray head: |
| Came at the evening, cold and gray, | “Good friend, in the path I have come,” he said, | ||
| To a chasm, vast, and deep and wide, | “There followeth after me today, | ||
| Through which was flowing a sullen tide. | A youth, whose feet must pass this way. | ||
| 2 | The old man crossed in the twilight dim; | 5 | This chasm, that has been naught to me, |
| The sullen stream had no fear for him; | To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be. | ||
| But he turned, when safe on the other side, | He, too, must cross in the twilight dim; | ||
| And built a bridge to span the tide. | Good friend, I am building this bridge for him.” | ||
| 3 | “Old man,” said a fellow pilgrim, near, | ||
| “You are wasting strength with building here; | |||
| Your journey will end with the ending day; | |||
| You never again will pass this way; | |||
| You’ve crossed the chasm, deep and wide- | |||
| Why build you this bridge at the evening tide?” |
ACTION/PRAYER: BE A BRIDGE! BE A BRIDGE BUILDER! Lord grant us grace to use our talents for kingdom building.