FRIDAY, June 11 Saint Barnabas

Acts 11:19-30; 13:1-3. Barnabas...was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were brought to the Lord.

It is not said that many people were brought to the Lord because Barnabas was the kind of Christian that he was, but it is implicit--and it is most plausible. There is only one kind of evangelism, of winning people to Christ, that is effective in the long run. It is the evangelism of example and witness. People will want to become Christians when they see that people like Barnabas are Christians. This man truly adorned the doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ by being loving, caring, outreaching, in the way of his divine Master. And so--large numbers were won over to the Lord.

John Greenleaf Whittier wrote of a friend:

It is ever so. And if in our day we want the church to grow in numbers, we must understand that we who are the church must first grow in grace, so that people will want to become what we are. (1972)

PRAY for the Diocese in Europe (Canterbury, England)

Ps 112; Isaiah 42:5-12; Matthew 10:7-16

View the daily Lectionary Readings at Satucket.com.
Or view the Bible passages at Biblegateway.com.

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