Mentored - Martin Wiles

I remember your genuine faith, for you share the faith that first filled your grandmother Lois and your mother, Eunice. And I know that same faith continues strong in you. 2 Timothy 1:5 NLT

Each one poured something different into my life.

My first cousin mentored me. He and his family lived beside my grandparents, who were farmers. My cousin knew all about farm life, which included hunting. He hunted squirrel, deer, quail, dove, and rabbit. He taught me the difference between a doe’s track and a buck’s. He showed me how to lead a dove when I shot at it.

Ken also poured into me. He was a high-school buddy who knew a good bit about the mechanics of vehicles because his father had mentored him. He taught me how an engine functions and about the different parts of a car. While what he taught me doesn’t do much for me now—due to advancements in computer technology—the knowledge served me well then, and saved me money.

And then Mike came along. I worked with him after I graduated from high school. His dad farmed, and Mike had taken up the occupation on the side. Some Saturdays I’d ride to his house and help him “farm.” I loved farm life. Perhaps because both of my grandfathers had been farmers. Mike taught me how to drive a tractor, along with many other practical things. It seemed he knew how to do everything. A regular jack of all trades.

But as important as these three mentors were in my early life, none of what they taught me compared to the spiritual mentoring I received from teachers, parents, and grandparents. They told me life-changing … eternity-changing … information. That if I believed in Jesus Christ and asked Him to forgive my sins I could go to heaven when I died.

Lois and Eunice had done this type of mentoring for young Timothy. When Paul came along, he continued the process. Timothy became his son in the faith.

God wants us to do a little mentoring. It’s one of the main reasons He puts us here—for relationships. He wants us to pour the story of His love into others, but we don’t have to stop there. We can show them how to live obediently, how to trust in the hard times, how to grow spiritually, and how to do practical “unspiritual” things that will make their lives easier.

Ask God to send people to you whom you can pour His love and your experiences into.

Prayer: Father, send us those people You want us to mentor.

Tweetable: Who are you mentoring? 

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