Evidence of Grace

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

EVIDENCE OF GRACE

Acts 11:22-24

22 News of this reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23 When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. 24 He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.

NIV

Now we have news of people who have become believers and so the Apostles decided to send Barnabas to check it out. What he saw when he arrived in Antioch is our life lesson today. Barnabas saw the evidence of the grace of God. This is once again the Greek word Charin which is defined as the divine influence upon one’s heart and how that is reflected in one’s life. This is what Barnabas saw when he arrived. He saw the divine influence upon the hearts of the new believers in Antioch and he knew God was influencing them because he saw it reflected in the way they were living. When we are influenced by the divine we will live in such a manner that reflects that influence. Now this is not living by some set of rules and regulations such as no smoking, no drinking, no movies, no dancing, no this or that, plus all the lists of good deeds that we must do in order to appear as a “Good Christian”. These believers in Antioch did not have some denominational statement of faith or church by-laws or manual to follow, nor did they have some church program or ministry they had to be a part of, all they had was the good news about Jesus Christ and the grace of God upon their lives. What more do we really need? Is there anything more important than the divine influence upon our hearts? Can any participation in any church setting replace God’s influence on our heart? Is it possible that because of that influence the reflection that shows in our lives is being involved in the lives of others? What does that reflection look like which Barnabas saw? Again those people did not have all the denominational organization we have today. All they had was the good news, and God’s influence upon their hearts. So in reality that is all we need today. We have received the good news and accepted it as fact, and we have the grace of God upon us, so what else is there that we need? Of course this grace of God could also be seen as the evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit which Barnabas would have been able to see as well. But then that is all included when God influences our hearts. When we receive the good news about Jesus Christ and hear about the Spirit who he sent, and the Spirit fills us, this is part and parcel of having the divine influence upon our hearts and we will have that evidence in our lives which others will be able to see. All the gifts and all the fruit are certainly physical evidences of the divine influence upon our hearts. With them may well come some good deeds as an outpouring of those gifts and fruit in our lives, but we must see them as just that, a result of the divine influence and not as our efforts to appear as “Good Christians”.  The other truth we have is about the description of the character of Barnabas and his actions. A man full of the Holy Spirit and faith and he encouraged those believers in Antioch as even more believed as a result of his life and evidence. This is how we should live, under the grace of God, living with the evidence of grace.