Growing Your Faith: How to Mature in Christ by Jerry Bridges

Author:Jerry Bridges
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2009-05-16T19:58:00+00:00

OPENNESS WITH ONE ANOTHER

Spiritual fellowship, however, involves more than the mutual sharing of scriptural truths. It also involves the sharing of our sins, failures, and discouragements, as well as our blessings and joys. And throughout all our spiritual fellowship we need to have a view to mutual exhortation, encouragement, and prayer. James told us, "Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed" (James 5:16).

This aspect of fellowship is threatening to most of us. We hesitate to expose our sins, or even our doubts and discouragements. Our problem, of course, is pride-the fear of what another person will think of us if he knows how we have sinned. We forget that "no temptation has seized [us] except what is common to man" (I Corinthians 10:13). Very likely the friend with whom you are seeking to have fellowship is struggling with the same temptation, or at least with another one that he or she is equally embarrassed about.

We cannot encourage, motivate, or pray for one another if we do not know the struggles the other person is facing. Remember Packer's statement about the Puritans? They asked God for a friend with whom they could share absolutely everything. We need to ask God for such a close friend. And then, after we find that friend, we need to be willing to open our lives to him or her.

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