2 Timothy 2:1-2
1 So you, my child, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
2 And what you heard from me through many witnesses entrust to faithful people who will have the ability to teach others as well.
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1 and 2 Timothy discuss in detail the responsibilities of a pastor to his flock. They also have a lot of useful information for us normal folks. You don’t have to be a priest or bishop or minister to be a “faithful person who has the ability to teach others.” We all have the ability to teach others, in one way or another. We all have the ability to share how we go about our spiritual lives, and how we’ve developed individual relationships with Christ.
This is why small faith groups are so important – they allow us to get into the nuts and bolts of how we live our Christian lives, and they allow us to learn from each other. In the weekly bible studies, one we try to do is have people discuss the details of their spiritual life. Christ clearly states that if we remain in Him, we will become his disciples (John 8:31). So … how exactly do we do that? Some questions that come up are:
- How do we discern God’s will?
- How exactly do we go about putting the flesh to death?
- What does “life in the spirit” mean?
- How do we know when we’re diverting from the path? What do we do then?
- How do we recognize the devil? What can we do when that happens?
I’m passionate about sharing as much of this type of information as I can, because I think it’s extremely valuable to learn from each other how we go about our spiritual walks. The more this happens, the stronger the community is – the more comfortable we are sharing our faith, and the more comfortable we are going to each other for help. And there’s no doubt, we all need help.
This is the process of discipleship. It “fans the flames” within our parish, and it bears spiritual fruit that we all can see. If we make the commitment to help each other grow, it generates light that can be seen by our families, our neighbors, and even our adversaries.
