Real Hope: Acts, a Study of Acts 12-17Sample

Second Chances

Acts 15 shares a beautiful story of forgiveness and second chances. Paul and Barnabas decide to go visit the churches they had planted to encourage them and see how they are. They are both excited by the idea, until Barnabas decides they should take Mark with them. Having abandoned them on a prior journey, Paul has washed his hands of Mark and determined he shouldn’t get a second chance.

But Barnabas had a different heart. He believed Mark could and should be restored to their ministry. He wanted to give him a second chance. So much so that he and Paul had a "sharp dispute" and parted ways, with Barnabas taking Mark to Cyprus and Paul taking Silas to Syria (Acts 15:37–41). Fast forward and we see in 2 Timothy 4:11 that Paul restored his relationship with Mark and they served God together.

But what if Barnabas hadn’t fought for Mark? We all make mistakes. As people, we can be very quick to write others off when they do the wrong thing, just like Paul did. But God doesn’t turn His back on us. When we sin and turn away from God, He doesn’t turn away from us. He doesn’t shut us out and slam the door. He does the opposite; He waits with open arms for us to turn back. And He wants us to be the same.

When people mess up, we all have an opportunity to be like Barnabas and dig past the actions to find the gold hidden beneath. To prayerfully look past the mistakes and find the beauty within. To help restore them to relationship where possible. Let’s be quick to forgive and slow to walk away. Let’s be like Barnabas and Jesus and show love, grace and forgiveness to others, even if we don’t want to.

Written by LEILA ARMSTRONG