and barnabas and saul returned from jerusalem when they had completed their service, bringing with them john, whose other name was mark. [acts 12:25]
serving the Lord—together
if it’s been a while since you’ve read in acts, it’s probably easy to look back on it, thinking it consists in individuals like paul and peter doing work by themselves, traveling the known world bringing no one with them. but that’s not how it goes! paul usually (if not always!) travels with one or more ministry partners. i won’t go too far with this because this verse doesn’t say much more than this: it is not good to work alone. the Spirit is in the heart of every believer, so we are never truly alone, but even so God provides co-laborers for our encouragement and comfort. who do you have who serves the Lord with you? who do you have in your life now who believes but who isn’t serving or who also serves alone? praise the Lord for those you have, and pray that you may find more! not even Christ or paul made a habit of working alone; God doesn’t expect you to either.
~ stephen hall