A Friends A Friend Forever

“Their disagreement was so sharp that they separated. Barnabas took John Mark with him and sailed for

 Ac 15:39


Life is hard but ministry is even harder. People come and people go, it’s a part of life as well as church life. One of the saddest stories of broken friendship in the Bible is that of Paul and Barnabas. After all, it was Barnabas who was instrumental in Paul getting his start in ministry when he became a follower of Jesus. The early church was scared to death of this man and thought his conversion to the Christian faith would be like that of a trojan horse. What appeared to be a gift would turn into a massacre. It was Barnabas who came to Paul’s defense and opened the door of acceptance for Paul. That’s what friends do.

Everyone needs a friend like Barnabas. One of the things I teach about relationships in the church is we all need a Paul figure in our lives, someone we can turn to for spiritual answers and who can disciple us. We also need a Timothy in our lives, someone who doesn’t know as much as we know about spiritual truths so we can share what we have come to know to be true with them to help them grow. And lastly, we all need a Barnabas in our lives, that person who is an encouragement to us, that friend who believes in us and knows just what to say to pick us up when we are down and feeling like quitting. Thats what Barnabas was to Paul and in Acts 15 where we read that a sharp disagreement came between them and they parted ways.

Paul losing Barnabas reminds me of a story I read about two best friends who became authors and wrote books together, and unfortunately one died in a hiking accident. The surviving friend captured what it feels like to suffer the loss of a best friend. I imagine in many ways both Paul and Barnabas dealt with the same kind of feelings even though neither of them had died physically. The surviving friend and author wrote this about his friend.

“I lost the truest friend I have ever known. I lost more than a partner, I lost the rarest of gifts to me, my friend whose heart saw what mine saw and knew what mine knew. Our friendship was a shared journey, a mutual quest, for the secret of our souls. It took us into the mountains, to the beach, through the desert, into literature. Our friendship took us into the deepest battle raging all around for our hearts and the hearts of those we love. We laughed and cried, we grieved and scorned and yearned and rejoiced all along the way. There is a hole in my world now, a perspective so rare and so precious to me that is now gone. Nobody saw what my friend saw, knew what my friend knew, and remembers what my friend remembers or loved what my friend loved. Questions I have can never now get answers. My world is an emptier place.”

If you have ever lost a friend, especially a best friend you know that pain too. The good news about Paul and Barnabas is their story has a happy ending as do all relationships that are founded on the love of Jesus. Somewhere down the road Paul and Barnabas reconcile and begin serving the Lord together again. Thats a beautiful thing about reconciliation and is just one of the many benefits of knowing and walking with Jesus. The Bible is a story of reconciliation, of forgiveness and unity, as we serve the God of the second chance so to speak. Having sharp disagreements in life is part of life, we are human and often times, stubborn and sinful. Thank God for His amazing grace.

If you have a best friend, praise God for them today and maybe you should thank them too. Maybe your friendship is broken and in need of repair. Let the story of Paul and Barnabas encourage you. Pray God would restore to you what the cankerworm has tried to destroy. Somewhere down the road it will happen, if not on earth it will in heaven. Remember love is patient. Some people come into our lives for a season, others for a reason and some for a lifetime! Thank God for each of them for they are all special in their own way. Most of all may we remember and never forget what a friend we have in Jesus. Jesus is that friend that sticks closer than a brother. Jesus is the only one who can say to us and truly mean it, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” And just think, it is Jesus who says to you and me,


“There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. This is my command: Love each other.”

John 15:13–17


I LOVE YOU!