April 14, 2023

Acts 15: 37-39 Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus. (NIV)

God can use injustice as well as justice to accomplish his will.*

One of my responsibilities at my job with the elections office was to recruit and train the pollworkers who staffed the voting precincts on election day. Securing enough people for each polling place was challenging enough, but sometimes I had to deal with their personality conflicts as well. Many times when I received complaints about a worker, accompanied by the threat that, “If you schedule her to work with us again, we will all quit,” I would simply move the troublesome person to another precinct to work with a different group – and never hear another complaint about her.

Sometimes God’s purposes get accomplished in similar fashion. In this instance, Paul had a legitimate concern about Mark’s reliability as a traveling companion. Barnabas, on the other hand, was able to overlook the younger man’s past lapse in judgment and give him another chance. So Paul chose Silas and off they went to Syria and Cilicia, “strengthening the churches,” while Barnabas and Mark sailed for Cyprus. It all seems to have been handled as maturely and constructively as any disagreement could be.

Whether the break-up of Paul and Barnabas was God’s original plan or not, God was able to use it for his purpose. Two missions teams could possibly accomplish twice as much as one. Meanwhile, Barnabas was able to mentor Mark; and apparently, Paul and Silas were good for each other. The results? New churches planted and lost souls saved.

Obeying God’s call requires us to abandon our comfort zone and rethink our plans. While divisions and contention among believers is distressing, God’s plans are bigger than our personality conflicts. I have seen him use a bitter church split, disguised as a church plant, and turn it into a thriving ministry. Was it his purpose all along? Only he knows!

Collections of apparently random events set us on paths we never would have imagined.*