My lesson today covers mentoring. Did you know that we are all mentors? True. But, even more surprising, no matter what stage of our lives we are in, we are always mentees (okay, not really a word, but you know what I mean). To mentor is to have a deliberate personal relationship that has lifelong impact.
Titus 2 covers the seven principles of mentoring.
1st Principle
As I stated above, mentoring occurs at all stages of life. Verse 2 is speaking to old men; verse 3 to old women; verse 4 to young women, verse 6 to young men and verse 9 to employers - employees.
2nd Principle
Mentoring should be reproducible. For example, in verses 3 and 4, it states that the old women should learn to be "reverent in the way they live..., but to teach what is good. Then they can urge the younger women to..." (Titus 2:3-4 NIV). In this way, mentoring is multi-generational. We are not only teaching our children, but our children's children, as well.
3rd Principle
Mentoring is need-specific. If you will notice in verses 2-10, each stage or group has different needs that they address.
4th Principle
Mentoring primarily teaches character. Character is the outworking of the heart in your life choices. Notice there are that more character issues than knowledge which are talked about in Titus 2. Basically, this teaches people how to use the fruit of the spirit in their lives.
5th Principle
Mentoring also teaches roll fulfillment. For example, a young woman might look to an older woman for guidance in what her roll is in keeping a Christian home.
6th Principle
Mentoring teaches biblical principles. Verses 11-14 shows how God's grace enables us to be strong to live right. We are deficient without God's grace. We need to put off the old man, put on the new, and to live for Jesus until He returns.
7th Principle
Last, but certainly not least, mentoring produces biblical testimony. Biblical mentoring produces biblical learning, which produces biblical living.
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