Mentors Can Help Christians Grow Spiritually
A major benefit of having one or more mentors in your life is their capacity to be honest with you and to keep you honest with yourself. A mentor or spiritual advisor is a person that helps you hold yourself accountable to God. Gospel-Driven disciples value the advice, admonition, and instruction given by godly mentors in their lives.
Proverbs 27:6 says, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend…” An open rebuke by a mentor who is truly a friend maybe painful, but their rebuke gives you the opportunity to reflect on the path that you are walking. The painful wounding (rebuking) of a true friend and mentor are designed to cut deep to the heart of a matter, particularly a matter of sin for your good.
Psalms 141:5 says, “Let a righteous man strike me…” Why? “…it is a kindness; let him rebuke me – it is oil for my head; let my head not refuse it.” Only a very foolish and proud individual refuses the rebuke of a godly friend and mentor.
This incident has often been quoted – “when a certain person was asked why he had derailed from his Christian walk, it was noted that, “He had nobody in his life who was honest with him.” Yes a friend’s poking around in your personal lives may strike a very tender and sore spot, but the result is only beneficially good for you.
Having stated this opinion clearly and even conclusively, let me give you seven benefits of having a spiritual mentor in your life:
1. Mentors can give biblical perspective at a crucial time in your life
2. Mentors can suggest times of rest & refreshment in order to charge spiritual batteries
3. Mentors can detect and warn you of sinful behavior or tendencies that may be developing
4. Mentors can graciously stimulate spiritual growth in particular areas of your life
5. Mentors can spot times of spiritual stagnation
6. Mentors can identify some of those blind spots that we cannot see ourselves
7. Mentors can give encouragement especially in those times when it is desperately needed
4 comments:
Great helpful post Gregg. I desperately need help only I have no one to talk with.
Yvonne.
I mentor several young men but most of my mentors seem to have moved away either physically or emotionally.
Who are your mentors Gregg?
Bob - for several years a former pastor has been my mentor, Pastor Evert Atkinson. I have learned much from him. For two years in Redding I had a mentor named Keith Stone.
Today my mentors at least for the present are A W Pink, Charles Spurgeon, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Iain Murry. I had three men I was mentoring but they moved on and or away and this past year I have not had someone to mentor or disciple.
I can relate to having those kinds of mentors Gregg. :)
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