Acts 9:27
“Then Barnabas brought him to the apostles and told them how Saul had seen the Lord on the way to Damascus and how the Lord had spoken to Saul. He also told them that Saul had preached boldly in the name of Jesus in Damascus.”
If you go to bat for someone, you want to make sure that what you say about that person is accurate. If that person is known to have been responsible for arrests and executions of members of your group, it is even more of a responsibility if you attest to their reliability.
That was the situation when the feared Saul of Tarsus returned to Jerusalem after a life-changing trip to Damascus. He had gone there to arrest followers of Jesus and see to their imprisonment and even execution. NOW HE RETURNS AS ONE OF THEM!
We are never told how Barnabas gained information about Saul’s conversion on the road to Damascus. What I have been led to infer is that Barnabas was always listening and searching for truth, especially when a person had been born again and was now a follower of the Jesus that he also followed.
Barnabas was very accurate in describing what had happened to Saul, but he also was reliable enough that the apostles believed him and gave Saul the right hand of fellowship. From then on Saul was accepted by the apostles and given free access.
Don’t you long for believers who would go about looking, listening, and watching for the good in others? There are already too many people who look for the bad and ugly around them. We need more FAITHFUL REPORTERS!
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil