mentors and friends

So this past Sunday we talked about obedience, and how intricately it's connected to faith. We clarified that the obedience that is talked about in the Bible is not the mindless kind of submission that we so often think of when we think of the word obedience, but rather a thoughtful commitment to following Christ, even when it appears hard, or even when our instincts are pointing us in the other direction. If we have faith in him, then we will be obedient to him.

Thinking about this truth while simultaneously getting ready to welcome a friend who will be visiting me from the east coast brought up for me the importance of having in your life both those you are obedient to (i.e. mentors), as well as those that you are obedient with (friends). While sometimes I wish that I had more mentors during my time at seminary (my head pastor was good, but we had somewhat of a language barrier), it was a great time for me to develop relationships with people that were serving in churches like I was. I treasure greatly the friendships that I made with these fellow servants of God, and I honestly wouldn't have gotten nearly as much out of seminary without them.

At the same time, I've needed desperately those voices in my life that were decidely not the voices of friends. As intelligent and insightful as my friends have been, there are those times that I've needed to hear from people who I was intentionally following and learning from. While in this democratic society we like to think that everyone is a leader, sometimes we just need to allow ourselves (thoughtfully and prayerfully) to be led by someone else. Being in a mentorship allows that to become real in a worshipful and committed manner.

If you don't have one, I highly encourage you to start praying about finding a mentor. And whether you have a mentor or not, I encourage you not to follow Christ alone, but with friends.

Because if you don't have dear brothers and sisters walking alongside you as you all follow Christ together, you wouldn't have anybody to take pictures like this: