What can we learn from the fact that Apollos said he wasn’t going to go back to visit the Corinthians Church?
“Now about our brother Apollos: I strongly urged him to go to you with the brothers. He was quite unwilling to go now, but he will go when he has the opportunity.” (1 Corinthians 16 v 12)
We don’t know why Apollos was ‘unwilling’ to go to Corinth even though Paul had asked him to and we can assume from ‘now about our brother ‘ that the Church had asked for him to visit. But we can hardly blame him for we know from the beginning of this letter that his name was being used within the whole divisiveness of the Church.
- Paul’s leadership was not that of a dictator where everyone had to do what he said. Apollos said No.
- You can urge but you cannot force.
- If you want to say No then that’s your prerogative.
- There are some moments when to walk back into a divisive place is not the right thing for you.
- The right time for you to do something is not necessarily when your diary or others say so but when you feel you are ready.
Maybe today you just have to say NO to someone or something that others may see as important but for you it has to wait because you are simply not ready. It is not the right time for you.
And that’s okay, says Apollos.
Missions Paul 