Disappointment

My dad was a strict disciplinarian.  But back in the 50’s, most fathers were strict disciplinarians.  My dad used his belt to administer punishment, which I needed plenty of.  But once, when I was ten years old, my dad used another more effective method: he said, “Gerald, you have disappointed me.  You know better and you can do better.”  I was crushed.  I would rather have had my dad give me the spanking that I deserved than for him to say that he was disappointed in me.  Hey, the apostle Paul was disappointed in John Mark, who quit the evangelistic team in Pamphylia and went home to Jerusalem.  So when they were preparing to go on the next missionary trip, Barnabas wanted to give John Mark a second chance.  Act 15:38, “But Paul thought not good to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work.”  Paul would have none of it.  And the contention was so sharp between those two men that they split the team.  Barnabas took John Mark and Paul took Silas.  We never hear of Barnabas again, but John Mark was used of God and joined Paul later.  Hey, have you ever had someone disappoint you?  Or worse yet, have YOU ever been a disappointment to someone else?  Why not give someone a second chance?  Paul did.  It may prove a good thing … or it may confirm them as a failure.  In either case, you won’t be the one who is unforgiving.