The Old Testament stories of biblical heroes are full of fallible people with questionable behavior. With the exception of maybe one or two like Joseph, men and women of faith in the Old Testament struggle and sin and fight and fail and God somehow weaves their story of faith into their lives to where His will was done and lessons are learned. The New Testament, especially the writings of Paul, present more of a balanced view with fewer examples of human weaknesses. That’s why this passage in 2 Corinthians where Paul reveals an inner struggle with his ability to believe God amidst human limitations is a rare opportunity to discover faith amidst doubt.

“When I came to the city of Troas to preach the Good News of Christ, the Lord opened a door of opportunity for me. But I had no peace of mind because my dear brother Titus hadn’t yet arrived with a report from you. So I said good-bye and went on to Macedonia to find him” (2 Corinthians 2:12-13).

There’s no way you can arrange or rearrange this story to remove the fact that Paul’s anxiety over not finding Titus in Troas as planned created a human emotional obstacle that prevented Paul from taking advantage of an opportunity to preach the gospel because of a door that God had even supernaturally opened for him. “Nope,” Paul is basically saying here, “I’m too full of anxiety to be useful to God, so I’m going to walk by this open door and head over to Macedonia where I hope to find Titus with news of the church in Corinth.”

Admissions of human struggle with faith are so rare in the writings of Paul that it makes one wonder why he included that here. One needs to read no farther than the next verse to find out why. “But thank God! He has made us his captives and continues to lead us along in Christ’s triumphal procession. Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume” (2:14).

We’ve already made it clear that the key to understanding this passage is realizing that the ministry is God’s ministry not ours, and one of the best ways to cement that fact is to show how even when we disqualify ourselves due to anxiety or other  human limitations, God’s ministry is still going on in us regardless by spreading the knowledge of Christ through his fragrance in our lives. Thus Paul can thank God that his life is still effective in spreading the gospel even when he opted out of an opportunity to preach. The effect of Christ’s presence in his life is going on all the time.

It’s true for all of us. We are all captives in a public display of His grace and mercy and are being led in a parade to His glory no matter what. With Christ as our master, even in our failure, He can’t fail.

To go further with this discussion tune into our podcast “Between the Answers” with John and Marti Fischer by clicking on the logo below.