“No man is an island” or so the saying goes by John Donne. As Christians we have a need to be around one another, we are told to, “do not neglect our fellowship with one another”. The early church grew, according to Acts 2:42, by prayer, studying the scripture, and fellowship.
It is so easy to simply feel comfortable with who we are in our walk with Christ, to compare our walk only with ourselves. On the flip side, it is also easy to decide that we are nothing because we compare ourselves to others too much.
Our growth depends upon our relationship with the Lord. Our relationship with the Lord depends upon how we see Him and how we see ourselves in light of who He is. The Bible is a great tool of reflection. Prayer and meditation (the Christian understanding) are wonderful tools God uses to draw us closer to Him. God uses people in our lives to help us to grow and become who He has called us to be.
Everyone needs a mentor in their lives. The role of the mentor is to be someone who loves you enough that they can challenge you, correct you, disciple you, and yet they don’t care if you like them or not. Paul had a number of disciples, people he was mentoring, Timothy and Titus were chief among them. All of the letters he had written were mentoring letters. As you study them, Paul is mentoring you today. The mentor’s job is to cause us to become who God has called us to be, regardless of whether you like them or not, they love you enough to tell you the truth.
We all need encouragers in our lives. So much of life is discouraging. We are constantly at war with the enemy of our souls, the world system, and people that are growing in Christ. All of these things and so many more can become exhausting. Add to that, if we have a mentor in our lives who is constantly challenging us to grow and you have no relief. That is when we need an encourager. The encourager’s role is simply to love you, speak words of comfort, and remind you of God’s plan for you. Joseph was such an encourager in the church that his name was changed to Barnabas meaning, “son of encouragement”. When all others rejected Paul early after his conversion, Barnabas came along side and encouraged him. The encourager in our lives helps us to take the challenges from our mentor and helps strengthen us to make it through each day.
Part of our growth is based on our ability to share what we have learned with others. We know that what we have been taught by our ability to teach it to others. The ‘Dead Sea” in Israel and Jordan is dead because water flows into it but does not flow out. It takes in, takes in, and takes in yet does not give out. Our lives can be very much like that; if all we do is take in and do not give out we can stifle our growth. Jesus has called each one of us to go into the world and make disciples. We need to cause growth in the lives of others. We need to take what we have learned and share it so others don’t have to walk through the same struggles we have gone through. We must have at least one disciple in our lives. They help us to grow by forcing us to know what we believe and why.
If you are wondering why there are no direct quotes from scripture in this blog, this concept comes from the book of 1st Timothy. It is a short book, take a few moments to read it and you will be encouraged in you walk.
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