As ye have
therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:
Rooted and built up
in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein
with thanksgiving. (Colossians
2:6-7 KJV)
Yesterday, September 1, 2016, marked the beginning of
another school year in my community. It is
a time to meet new people, learn new things, and grow intellectually and
socially. A new school year is a fresh start
of sorts, much like the start of a new calendar year or month (or even day!). This time of year seems to call us back to
our school days (no matter how long we have been out of school)—the busy days
of summer fun give way to a school year with busyness of its own—hopefully this
time will also cause us to desire to return to time in the Word (if we neglected
that during the summer). For some ideas
to get started on reading the Word, please see my 50 Day Spiritual Adventure for 2016 (first post appeared September
1, future posts will go up early on Sunday morning September 4-October 16).
Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you. (Philippians 4:9 KJV)
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God’s Word is full of wisdom for the whole of life. We are wise to read, study, and apply it to
our lives. Moreover, seeking out a
mentor to guide us in our walk is extraordinarily beneficial and assists our spiritual
growth. We grow, too, when we mentor
others. Learning and growing should
never end, even when we supposedly reach the end of our student days. I, along with many others, have discovered
that even when we teach, tutor, or mentor that we learn along side the
person(s) we are teaching or mentoring. With
all of this in mind, today’s post will take a brief look at mentors and
mentoring; currently, I am planning a month long consideration of learning and education.
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And the things that thou hast heard of me among many
witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach
others also.
(2 Timothy 2:2 KJV)
So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing
to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls,
because ye were dear unto us.
(1 Thessalonians 2:8 KJV)
What is mentoring?
Who is a mentor? When you pause
to consider it, mentoring is seen in both the Old and New Testaments. For example, Moses had Jethro, Timothy had Paul,
and the disciples had Jesus. The Holy
Spirit is our Teacher and Mentor too.
Simply put, a mentor is:
“someone
who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger
person.”[1]
For our purposes here, a mentor
is also one who is farther ahead on the faith journey than the person he or she
is mentoring; the mentor may or may not be chronologically older.
Remember them which have the rule over you, who have
spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of
their conversation. (Hebrews 13:7
KJV)
I imagine all of us have or had
special people in our lives—people who came along side (possibly seeing
something of worth in us) and built us up, encouraging us to develop our God
given potential. Mentors truly are special
people who freely give of themselves, building into the life of another person.
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Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance
of his friend. (Proverbs 27:17
KJV)
For many of us, those people were
Christian teachers, coaches, pastors, or mentors who helped us grow in our walk
with the Lord. Mentors really only need
a willing heart and be just a bit ahead of the person being mentored. The benefits of mentoring relationships are
priceless. Ideally, both sides of any
mentoring relationship learn and grow together.
And he arose and
went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under
Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and
had come to Jerusalem for to worship,
Was returning, and
sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet.
Then the Spirit
said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.
And Philip ran
thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest
thou what thou readest?
And he said, How
can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would
come up and sit with him. (Acts
8:27-31 KJV)
Perhaps, you remember the person(s) who led to your
decision to invite Jesus into your heart.
What characteristics made this person unique? What did they have that caused you to seek
them out as a mentor? My guess is—it was
not dependent upon looks or money; it was most likely something intangible. In the verses (above) from Acts, we see
Philip, empowered by the Holy Spirit, in a short-term mentoring relationship
with an Ethiopian eunuch; leading to the Ethiopian’s salvation. This spread the gospel into Africa! Please do not discount the power of one
simple meeting.
But the
Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he
shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance,
whatsoever I have said unto you.
(John 14:26 KJV)
Spend some time in the week ahead (and through this month)
reflecting on these special people and being thankful. Just think:
you may be on someone’s list!
If you think you would like to have mentor, I encourage you
to pray and see who God puts on your heart to ask. Likewise, you may also desire to be a mentor
for someone in your life—I encourage you to take the matter to the Lord in
prayer and see who He places on your heart.
Who is your mentor?
Who can you mentor?
Go ye therefore,
and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Teaching them to
observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you
always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
(Matthew 28:19-20 KJV)
Be ye followers
of me, even as I also am of Christ.
(1 Corinthians 11:1 KJV)
Please join with me in prayer:
Dear Lord, cause us to remember all the special people who
have taught and mentored us in our faith.
Thank You for their comment and time spent in preparation, as they
guided our faith walk as we matured. Grant
us the wisdom to lead others to Christ and help them grow in their faith, realizing
that You are the One who brings about the growth. Our thankfulness for all we have in Jesus overflows. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. Amen.
From My Heart to Yours,
Kim
