Encouragement

Now when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. - Acts 13.43

After Paul and Barnabas he’d been sent out several of the people followed them out and persuaded them to continue in the grace of God as they pursued their ministry.

There are a couple of things here. One is the importance of continuing on. That can’t happen apart from the grace of God. Those of us who deal with the realities of life know the challenge of just continuing to put put one step in front of the other. Barnabas was by his nature the encourager, but even he needed encouragment.

We are need a cheerleader or two. We that brother or sister is always ready to pick up and draw alongside us and push us to continue on our way in the grace of God. Sometimes we are going to want to quit. We are going to be tempted to give up. We need that encourager behind us.

But we also need to be aware that we need to be encouraging others. Who do you know who may be struggling today and need that little push to keep on keeping on. We can’t assure anyone to keep on going in their own strength, but we can encourage them to keep on going in the grace of God. His grace has brought us safe thus far, and His grace and His grace alone will see us though.