Confidence in you. 2 Corinthians 7:16. “I rejoice therefore that I have confidence in you in all things.” What a man is Paul! They criticized his looks; they criticized his speech; they criticized his message. As far as those Corinthians, he couldn’t do anything right. He had brought them the Gospel but that didn’t seem to count for anything. He lived among them in that ungodly city, but they seemed to think that meant nothing to this man of vision. He worked with his own hands so that no one could charge him with taking their money or living off of them, but still, they complained. He talked straight to them about what was wrong and what to do to put things right. He wrote to them when he was away. They couldn’t charge him for not caring about them or what happened to them. In spite of all that he tried and tried again.
Why bother with such a bunch of high-minded, morally low, self-centered, ungrateful, carnal people!? He couldn’t help it. They were his spiritual children and they were doing a bad job of living the Christian life and bearing a Christian testimony in the place where they were living. They weren’t fooling the people around; they weren’t fooling God (some of them had already been taken away) and they weren’t fooling the apostle who had brought them the Gospel. Instructors could give the information; teachers could apply the truth to their situation; but there are times when only a father will do what is needed.
So even though they were such rascals, he didn’t give up on them. He praised them when and where he could rightly do so. He was comforted by them because he loved them with his heart. He rejoiced in their mourning because now he could see some light at the end of the dark tunnel of their misdeeds. He made them sorry because he had to. He didn’t take back his words of rebuke. But now he is seeing some sorrow that is leading to change. The Corinthian believers didn’t like it but finally, they could see the reason. They had cleaned up their act. They had made necessary changes. They had challenged themselves and it was obvious God was at work in them. Now he could see the results and Paul was delighted. He knew the potential was there but it was hard to get the rubbish out of the way so that what was right would triumph over the wrong. Now Paul was rejoicing! Now his confidence in them is vindicated! Now he can boast again to his fellow workers that the labor is not in vain!
Is the travail worth it? Is the separation from what we want most, worth the hassle? Is the seeming indifference of the audience, and the lack of interest worth the effort of hours of preparation and minutes of delivery? Are the traveling and the sleeplessness, the outlay of money and time worth it? Isn’t there a better way I could spend my time than this? Do they even care that we care? At the moment I can’t answer these questions. But I can be confident that I have no other choice in the matter.
They have instructors and teachers that are good at what they do, but they don’t have fathers – and I am one. So, I must go again and again, even though it may, at the moment, seem fruitless. I have no way of determining the value of such an effort. I only have the confidence that this is the way God intended it, so that’s enough for me. God knows and I don’t. All I know is that this is his method of “perfecting the saints” so I’ll keep doing it while I can.