Remain True

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

REMAIN TRUE

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

Although we have already dealt with this scripture and focused on the evidence of the grace of God which Barnabas saw when he arrived in Antioch, we need to take a moment and actually look at the character of Barnabas. We see he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith. We also see that he encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. The Greek word actually implies exhort, invoke, invite but we usually do not talk like that today so encourage fits our vocabulary better, but the point is he was what we might consider forceful in his speech, as a preacher from the pulpit might be today. He was not merely suggesting they remain true to the Lord with all their hearts, he was not simply giving them some encouragement either, but he was exhorting them, teaching them, preaching to them about staying with their new found faith, not to return or even incorporate their old beliefs into their lifestyle, but to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. These are strong words. We could learn a lesson from these words as well. We should always remember to remain true to our Lord with all our hearts as well. That means not to have a divided heart, not to give a portion of our heart to our own desires, ambitions, goals, or old beliefs. This would include religious traditions which have been instituted by men rather than God. The gentiles in Antioch surely had some kind of pagan religion with traditional activities or beliefs which Barnabas wanted them to forsake completely, leaving all else behind for a complete commitment to the Lord. We need to make sure our heart is not divided in any way, so it is all in for Jesus. When the Holy Spirit enters our life he wants to clean out all the old self completely, every room, even that closet in the hallway where we keep all the junk for that just in case moment. If we allow him full access then we too can be called a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith encouraging others to remain true to the lord.