Many Encouragers but few Mentors

 

2 Timothy 2:1-2

“You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”

I’ve come to this understanding from my life experiences, I’ve had many encouragers that have taught me how to live the Christ life, but I’ve had few men who would pour their lives into mine.  Encouragers are very important, and they come in many forms, a book that someone tells you to read because it helped them, a Bible study where the teacher was able to convey truth that you applied to your life.  One who played the role of encourager is Joyce Ray.  Many years ago, I had to start over in a new division, in the big city of Houston, with a new product line, and with my family four hours away.  I was living in hotels and I began to have anxiety attacks about my family and my health.  I often could not sleep because of chest pains, but I did not share this with anyone but Jan and the Lord.  It was during this time that my phone rang in my hotel room and I heard Joyce’s voice; this is what she said, “Bob, the Lord impressed me to call you and read this verse to you” “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”  I cannot put into words what that phone call did for me, but it encouraged me to the point that I believed what God said in that verse, and I began to look forward to this new opportunity.

Now a mentor or life coach will surely be an encourager, but they also will slap you in the head (so to speak) when needed, and we all need a person who loves us enough to tell us when we are moving into a spiritual minefield.  If you have the desire to mentor in the spiritual area of a mans life, it will require you to ask the Lord to bring a man into your life that will ask you to train him in God’s wisdom.  If you do so and that man is not a faithful man, in that he is not on time, misses appointments that you have agreed on, or after a few weeks he is never prepared; he is not a faithful man and it is in his best interest to tell him he is not ready at this time to be mentored.

So what does a faithful man look like: He is teachable, or better said, has a teachable spirit, and a great example of this comes from the mouth of a blind man who Jesus had healed; when Jesus ask him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”  He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?”  Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.”  He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.”  He also is a seeker of truth, and such a person is described in Proverbs 18:15, “The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge; the ears of the wise seek it out.”

I have come to understand that mentoring is much like raising a child, the return on your time and investment is seeing an adult who lives out Micah 6: 8, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”  That person will take hold of the eternal life that the apostle Paul is referring to, not after the death of their earth-suit, but now.  1 Timothy 6:12, “Fight the good fight of the faith.  Take hold of the eternal life to which you are called when you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”   And the joy comes when they begin to live out Christ’s life, and in doing so you teach others.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice