By Jason Benedict
The idea of mentorship is extremely powerful. We see many biblical examples Moses and Joshua, Elijah and Elisha, Jesus and The Twelve, Paul and Timothy.
In these stories we see the pattern that it is God’s intention for us to stand on the shoulders of our fathers and for us to start-off in leadership where they left-off.
The self-made man or woman is a myth. Anyone who reaches their potential and enters their destiny has a list of people to thank. You can’t enter your promised land alone!
We see this principle in the 5th commandment.
Deut 5:16 NIV “Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
Honor is key here because it is the posture of the student to the teacher. The reality is that you can receive from people if you don’t honor them. What this scripture is saying, is that if you are willing to posture yourself to learn from the previous generation you can avoid learning the lessons of life the hard way.
This is the first commandment with promise. The promise here is long life and living well. Those who fail to learn from others, and particularly from those who have gone before them condemn themselves to the hardship of Hard Knocks University.
See the diagram – Everyone goes to hard knocks U – it’s and inevitable part of life. Nevertheless, peoples outcomes are very different. If you are diligent to gather wise godly mentors and learn from them you can have full ride scholarship and get the learning without paying the price of failure. Others pay the full price, but at least they learn from their failures. Others either drop out because they can’t stomach the price or flunk out (a miserable outcome) by paying the price of failure over and over but all the time failing to learn.
The Word of God is a rich repository of wisdom learn from it and from those who have gone before you, so that it may go well with you and that you may live long upon the Earth.
Copyright (c) 2017 – All rights reserve – Jason Benedict
