Mentorship

Why Should I Get a Spiritual Mentor?

Having a spiritual mentor throughout your college years is an enriching experience, and is a practice that is supported in both the old and new testaments of the Bible. Solomon, who wrote the Proverbs, compares the instruction that humans provide to one another as the sharpening of iron. Just as iron is sharpened with a purpose to fulfill a task, Christians must be sharpening one another to produce good works and support the Church. In the time of the early Church, Paul the apostle writes to his mentee Timothy and instructs him to pass wisdom to faithful men. This is not merely a one-time instance, as Paul desires for the men that Timothy teaches to be able to teach others. From these two passages of scripture, we know that mentorship is both wise (since the Proverbs definitionally is wisdom literature) and instructed by one of the key church fathers of the first century.

Proverbs 27:17 ESV - "Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another."

2 Timothy 2:2 ESV - "and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also."