You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings-what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
Character Check Who in my sphere of influence would be a good candidate for me to mentor?
In Business Terms Lifestyle mentoring defines the principles of living. Recently I heard a young man say, “My grandfather was everything to me. He loved me, and he taught me how to live.” How fortunate to have an older person in one’s life about whom you can say that.
As we look at the Scripture for lifestyle mentoring, we immediately think of Paul and Timothy. From the text I don’t know how much skill Paul gave him as a missionary, but we do know Paul was an excellent sponsor. We know he was a father in the faith. He let Timothy observe him at work. Paul promoted him to the churches. In a broad sense, I would call Paul a lifestyle mentor to Timothy.
This type of mentoring is a kind of parenting, without the parental responsibilities. The responsibility is on the young person to observe correctly.
The responsibility of the lifestyle mentor is to be open, real, and personify consistently who he is so the young person receives a clear, consistent signal. The mentor must provide a comforting atmosphere in which the student feels free to ask any question he needs clarified.
A good mentor never ridicules a question. He may choose not to answer it, but he is careful never to ridicule, for questions are the pump that makes the answers flow.
—Fred Smith, Sr.
Something to Think About The face is the mirror of the mind; and eyes, without speaking, confess the secrets of the heart. – Jerome
