Being ready for the journey ahead is what college is all about. Paul tells Timothy that the scriptures are useful immersion for all the work he faces, particularly in view of the opposition he can expect (2 Timothy 4:1-5). He says, "Scripture is God-breathed and useful for ... training in righteousness, so that the person of God may be fitted, fully equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16). It makes sense then that a Christian college education worthy of the name ought to be outfitting you in the ways Paul is describing. Our topic isn't just informative. It's not even merely (!) transformative. It's also formative.
This assignment is eminently practical. It's a series of exercises to grow your experience, strengthen your skill, and equip you more fully in the Kingdom's righteousness, which Jesus told his disciples to make their first priority (Matthew 6:33).
Are God's Kingdom and righteousness your first priority here in college? If not, you are building on sand and headed for destruction (Matthew 7:24-27). We've been warned!
This exercise is best done under the consultation of a wise and experienced 'coach' who knows you. Perhaps a pastor, perhaps a Christian counselor, perhaps a mentor, but certainly a skilled and fruitful disciple. He or she will be 'Paul' to your 'Timothy.' If this isn't possible, do it alongside a fellow student, in the spirit of the seventy being sent out in pairs.
Consult a list of essential skills or competencies for active Christian discipleship. A quick web search produces a good list here as well as here. If your own church or tradition favors a particular list, use that. Your coach may offer insights here specific to your own context and perhaps your personality.
Focus on several competencies where you know you need work. Choose things at the edge of your comfort zone, or a little beyond. Practice them. Repeat whenever possible. Keep a log, with brief entries, of what you've done and the results.
Example exercises to practice and repeat:
- Share the faith (not merely your faith), and hear someone out.
- Strengthen your understanding of something important you encounter in the course material.
- Build someone up in ways that align with the apostolic faith as you're learning it.
- Use scripture and course material to identify a personal weakness and to build a countervailing habit.
- Clear up a misunderstanding someone has about the Christian faith or life.
- Use course material in prayer in sustained, structured ways.
- Draw on course material regularly in gathered worship or personal devotion.
- ‘Redeem’ problematic chapel or church worship by channeling the occasion productively.
- Tell someone not in the class about what you're learning. Discuss, listen, explain, and consider their responses.
- Use course concepts to problem-solve in one or more specific area of your life or someone else's (but Luke 6:39-42: take the plank out of your own eye first, so you can see clearly to help).
Ephesians 4 may supply some inspiration along the way.
Near the due date, write a brief summary reflection on what you decided to do, the process, and the results, and submit it along with your log. Mention your coach/mentor/peer companion and tell me how that relationship played a part. The burden of this assignment is on the practice, not the writing, so I'm not expecting an elaborate write-up, though you are of course welcome to develop one, especially if the added reflection is formative. That's what it's all about, remember?
By the way, the phrase Paul uses for this is fascinating, loaded phrase given what the term dikaiosune means in Christian context: occasionally justice, that ubiquitous word nowadays, but more often righteousness, doing what's right, especially with regard to others. It's easy to miss what he means. Leftish political culture primes us to see justice in terms of some kind of social superstructure around us that produces equitable outcomes (where everyone ends up with equal shares of power). Rightish political culture primes us to see it in terms of a different kind of social superstructure that, if it is just, treats people according to a common standard, applies it consistently, protects against private and public abuses, and so fosters an environment in which people can flourish. Whichever vision you advocate, it's not what Paul is talking about, though it's probably a distant relative. Righteousness is a quality belonging to God that his Kingdom brings, its good news reveals, and faith receives (Romans 1:17, 3:21-4:22). Flowing out of God's character, righteousness is God's responsiveness: on the one hand, holding trespassers accountable; but much more, displaying God's own magnanimity in inviting those same transgressors into his circle of love, grace, and blessing. So much more than the left or right even imagine, especially since it's a reality rather than just a theoretical vision. Formation in the Kingdom's righteousness is about becoming oriented to the Kingdom's life-giving new arrangement, acclimated, and equipped not only to thrive in it but work along its frontier, where the Kingdom's righteousness meets the world's sinfulness in all its forms.
Remember, I always want to see proper style, clear writing, a thorough answer to the question, and explicit citations of course materials. I hope that after this assignment you're better equipped, and on the way to being fully equipped, so that the potential Paul saw in Timothy is realized in you as well. Then you can pass it on to others (2 Timothy 2:2)!