I don’t believe I’d ever given much thought to a guy in the Bible named Barnabus. Specifically, he shows up in the book of Acts and his real name is Joseph– Barnabus is a nickname he picked up from the disciples. This may be conjecture on my part, but I imagine he probably preferred that they not call him Barney.

The name Barnabus means “son of encouragement.” In other words, this guy was such an encourager, that’s how people came to identify him.

He’s the one who introduced Paul to the world. Paul had been a fanatical Pharisee who hunted down and persecuted Christians, even going so far as to have some of them killed, before his own conversion on the road to Damascus.

Barnabus was the first one to look past Paul’s past and to believe in his potential, to see a future that perhaps even Paul couldn’t yet see for himself.

We’ve all needed a Barnabus in our lives at times. We needed someone to speak a word of encouragement and to believe for us when we couldn’t believe in ourselves.

Could it be that God might actually be calling us to be a Barnabus to someone else? Could it be that we could speak gospel encouragement into someone else’s life?

It may seem like a small thing, but it could be life from the dead for someone who needs it. It could be what inspires the next missionary or preacher or evangelist. Or maybe even the next Apostle Paul.

You’ll never know unless you speak.