But the LORD, who himself goes before you, will be with you and will not turn away from you, nor forsake you. Do not be afraid and do not be alarmed!
Deuteronomy 31:8
Make my walk firm in your word, and let no iniquity reign over me.
Psalm 119:133
May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to waiting for Christ.
2 Thessalonians 3:5
And whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
Matthew 10:38
So also faith, unless it has works, is dead in itself.
James 2:17
In this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.
John 15:8
When we as humans make the decision to live our future life with Jesus, the Son of God, then we become disciples. He has preceded us in everything. And when we look more closely at the life of Jesus, we see that He had to endure so much more than we did. But as humans, we often try to take the path of least resistance. And when we speak of following Him, we have often hidden His suffering in our minds. But suffering is something human, felt both by people who are walking with God and by those who are not walking with him. And I personally think that suffering is part of our character training. It hurts, no question about it, but as a Christian I can deal with it differently.
But when we come to faith, we are like babies and have to grow up in faith first. It was no different for the 12 apostles. That's why Jesus went with them. You could and should learn from him. They were allowed to accompany him and were in turn accompanied by him.
And it's a different learning process when you see someone constantly and how they deal with concerns and needs in a given situation than when you have an occasional lesson or a teaching.
Today we like to call it “learning by doing”. When we share in each other's lives, we see each other's rough edges.
For this reason it is the case in many churches that older Christians, and by that I mean those who have been in the faith a little longer, take care of the babies. There is patient and loving instruction, benevolent correction. Just like a father or mother helps their child grow up. A form of spiritual parenting. The young man, fresh in his faith, learns from his counterpart. But it is important that young Christians are allowed to start doing something themselves at an early age. You just have to let them do it, because how are you supposed to find out where your talents lie if you're not allowed to find out for yourself.
I myself was converted in a charismatic church and was not lucky enough to receive such a teaching. Not because there wasn't anyone there who could have done it, but because the church was in transition. I was adopted (sort of) by a women's home group and had many (spiritual) mothers. They took good care of me, but I also noticed that they were constantly at odds with how intense it should be. You yourselves know that normally men take care of men and women take care of women. But since there were no men who felt responsible, women took on this task.
I didn't have the normal ceremonial baptism in a church either, but was baptized in the bathtub in the women's shelter group.
A start with obstacles you could say. But when I look back today, at being a Christian with many obstacles and struggles, of which I have by far not all won, then I have to say that it worked. For me.
And at the same time, it's important for me to emphasize that I consider spiritual parenting to be one of the most important elements in the Christian faith.
Accompanying someone is an important learning process for both sides. A give and take. Questioning and questioning, and mutually.
What about you? Did you or do you have spiritual parents? Or are you already a spiritual father or mother? As in normal life, the most important thing in spiritual parenting is not the level of maturity, but the love you feel for the other. And maybe it's time to take on that kind of responsibility for a brother or sister.
1 Corinthians 13:13
What remains is faith, hope and love. But of these three, love is the greatest.
Comments