Would You Like to Have a Mentor?

There are plenty of books available on discipleship. They tell you what a disciple is and how you can become a good one. Unfortunately, reading books on discipleship does not necessarily make you a disciple.

Real discipleship is worked out only through ’doing’, and doing something that you haven’t done before. Breaking a habit, stepping out into the unsafe, taking a risk, feeling uncomfortable for a while… all these are part of becoming a disciple. It may seem scary, yet it’s the only way forward.

Following Jesus involves to listen to his Spirit inside of you and then take practical steps. It means that you enter a process of transformation and actually change. Unless you become proactive and take that first step forward, nothing will happen, and everything will remain the same. Knowledge that you don’t put into practice just gives you an illusion of progress, in reality there is none.

Admittedly, it’s pretty hard to do something that you haven’t seen someone else do…

Therefore, when it comes to training disciples, we are in desperate need of examples and mentors. We need experienced disciples who are willing to hand on what they have learned through the years and through their own failures. Being only around people who are on your same level of maturity or possibly lower, does not really help in this goal. You need someone who has something you don’t have.

Why not take a moment to think of someone in your life who has spiritual qualities that you’d love to grow into? If you feel the Lord drawing you to such a person, then why not take courage and ask him or her to be your mentor? You might take this person by surprise. 

Maybe he or she has never been a mentor before and feels a bit clueless on how to respond to such a request. But this is part of the beauty of this journey. It will be an adventure for both of you. Your friendship will evolve and you will have some wonderful learning experience together.

What if both of you fail? So what! That’s part of the deal! You learn from it and move on. There is no better option.

Why don’t you give it a try!