Lifting up instead of tackling
Don’t bring others down; help each other up.
Who doesn’t remember chasing games in the schoolyard? Elementary school kids run after their friends or “enemies” with just one goal: to trip them. To knock someone down for fun or to fight.
This game doesn’t disappear as we get older. On the soccer field, we see it when a defender, risking a red card, tackles a breaking attacker to prevent him from scoring. And in adult social life, it goes by other names: pulling a fast one on someone, putting a spoke in their wheel—for example, out of jealousy over a colleague’s success. The forms change, but the core remains the same: you bring down someone who is moving forward.
That is harmful, because in doing so we damage one another.
In the Bible, 1 John 2:10 contains a passage that stands in direct contrast to this: “Whoever loves his brother remains in the light, and there is nothing in him that causes another to stumble.”
Anyone who wants to live close to God has no intention whatsoever of letting another person down. The desire is quite the opposite: to encourage and uplift. For whoever blesses others will themselves receive blessings. Living in the light, as the text tells us, means that your behavior is not focused on setting traps or bringing others down. Love is not primarily focused on self-interest, but also on the interest of the other person. Hence the call: lift people up.
“…if you notice that someone has stumbled, you must help them back onto the right path in a spirit of gentleness.” (Galatians 6:1, NIV)
Lifting someone up sounds simple, but what does it mean in practice? When someone makes a mistake, when there are tensions in a relationship, or when something in someone’s life comes to light that isn’t good, don’t think: finally, it was about time it came out. Instead, focus with compassion on that person’s restoration. Even if you don’t particularly like that person. Because even then, the Bible asks us to keep the other person’s best interests in mind, with God’s help.
Barnabas
The Bible calls someone like that—a person who builds up rather than tears down—an encourager. One of the most beautiful examples of this in the Bible is Barnabas. His real name is Joseph, but the apostles gave him a nickname: Barnabas, which means “son of encouragement” or “son of comfort.” That nickname says everything about who he was.
We meet him in Acts 4, but his most beautiful appearance is found in Acts 9. After his radical conversion, Paul—who was still called Saul at the time—tries to join the disciples in Jerusalem. No one trusted him. Why would they? This was the man who persecuted Christians, who was present at the stoning of Stephen. No one believed that someone like that had suddenly become a Christian.
Saul stood there alone, excluded and distrusted. Then Barnabas did something no one else dared to do. He took Saul by the hand and brought him to the apostles. He put his own reputation on the line and told the others what had really happened: how Saul had seen the Lord on the road and how boldly he had already been preaching in Damascus.
Barnabas did not look at Saul’s past; he looked at what was in his heart. He saw that this man had been radically changed, and he dared to put his arm around him. He opened doors that would otherwise have remained closed forever. Without Barnabas, the apostle Paul would not have existed.
Character
Barnabas did more than just occasionally do something kind. It was an attitude, a character trait. He was a spiritual support, someone with an eye for the potential in others. Where others saw a failure, or someone who had made mistakes, Barnabas saw the person behind it all.
He knew how to listen—not superficially, but genuinely. He possessed empathy: the ability to set aside his own opinions, put his judgment on hold, and seek the other person’s best interests. He was a bridge-builder. A true encourager does not get frustrated if someone does not change quickly. He has staying power. He continues to believe in restoration and in possibilities, even if it takes a long time. That attitude of Barnabas led to Saul becoming Paul: a man of great significance to the Christian church worldwide.
This brings us back to that passage from 1 John 2. We shouldn’t be out to tackle others. On the contrary, we should be out to build others up and lift up those who have fallen.
Pillar of Support
I want to conclude this story with a beautiful image. Think of a young sapling, just planted, vulnerable to every storm, every gust of wind. In the park department, they place a sturdy stake next to such a vulnerable sapling and tie the young trunk to it. When a storm rages, that stake provides support. When the wind blows hard, the sapling stands firm.
In the same way, Barnabas was a pillar of support for Paul.
And so may we be for one another: not to cause stumbling, but to lift up. Not to bring down, but to bless. So that people can stand firm, grow, and live out their purpose.
@wimvanputten