EPAPHRODITUS AND TIMOTHY - AN EXTRA NOTE

An excellent article by Bob Deffinbaugh called "A Few Good Men" draws interesting contrasts between the work of Timothy and Epaphroditus (Timothy was the one Paul sent out to places he couldn't get to; Epaphroditus was the one who came to him). As Deffinbaugh points out, there are many kinds of service for God, but they all count. Australian leader Gordon Moyes believes that Paul may have written as he did because the Philippians might have felt Epaphroditus had failed to fulfil his promise:

Paul was making it easy for the young man. The Church could have treated him like a failure! He had tried, but had to quit because of ill-health. Paul obviously was anxious to get him back, and to have him received in the best light.

Moyes comments that there are many Christians who start out with high hopes and never quite achieve all they aspire to - often because of poor health, just like Epaphroditus. How do we treat our "failures"? How do we handle "failure" ourselves? It's amazing how often seeming failure is used by God to launch a completely different, much more powerful ministry. What a good thing it was that Thomas Barnardo never got to India, but had a Down's Syndrome child; that George Matheson's blindness and "most severe mental suffering" produced his wonderful hymns; that Susan Fitkin's inability to become a missionary resulted in the sending out of 1763 others.