TMK made a valid point on another thread and it is a need I have cited in a different context.

We say a lot of things that are truth, but come off as platitudes. It is not merely that we lack application. It is that we do not even see a need for real life examples -- case studies, if you will -- to aid us in wrapping our lives around these truths.

We may be blessedly skilled in applying God's Word to our lives. But, we are woefully inadequate in leveraging that into practical help for each other.

One of the reasons why confession of our sins to one another is helpful is that it avoids rolling up our struggles into a package of Christianese. Getting real and practical with each other is and will be more vital to us as the day of the Lord approaches.

Our fellowships should include the submission and liberty to call one another out in love. Pride is very sensitive here. But, as we exercise the gifts of the Spirit in fellowship, our experience will help us be more Christ-like in dealing with one another gently but in truth. Not to bruise, not to break, but to build and to buttress ourselves in the Body.

Think of it: we confess so freely and forgive and restore so quickly and without bitterness or "better than you"-ness that we build a repertoire of practical experiences and spiritual warfare responses far beyond what any of us now know.

Am I off base?

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Tim