More Valuable Than Gold
I have noticed and read experts who say those in their 20s through 40s are hungry for mentors. Some are obsessed to find someone to guide them, to teach them, and to train them. There is much to praise in this attitude. This is a generation who wants to learn, do well, and succeed in life. I haven't thought long enough about this tendency in our youth to understand why they are so hungry for mentors but here are a few tentative thoughts.
1) The great desire to be mentored may come from a deficit of parenting. Subconsciously, many young people feel the void that absent parents created, and they are longing for adults to help them learn what they would have otherwise learned in a healthy family.
2) Related to my last point, there is a particular problem that has been building for some time for boys and young men. A few decades of absent parents have created a crisis for strong male leaders. Sadly, many boys grow up without their father physically in the home. Others may have had fathers who were emotionally and psychologically absent because of our consumerism-driven culture that suggests that success is about how much money you have and how many luxury items one can own.
But that is not all of it. Some of the deficit that young people feel may have been created by our strong self-will and determination. I wonder if those 40 and older have sent signals to young people that we have it all figured out. Maybe we have misled our young people to think that hard work, self-reliance, and determination are the secrets to success. I'm not against any of those traits, and I will admit to possessing most of them.
The thing that I think we may have forgotten to share with our younger friends is that we really aren't as smart or wise as the impression we give. And if we have acquired any wisdom, it didn't just come from the school of hard knocks but rather was learned in prayer and meditation on God's word. Solomon wrote a lot about this topic. His father David did as well and both give us countless examples of the source of wisdom and its availability to all who ask, seek, and look to God for it. Proverbs 8 tells us that God is literally standing at the crossroads, on a bench, standing and shouting his thoughts ahead of every decision we make. There is no time that his wisdom is not available. His thoughts are always right and will never lead us down a wrong path.
One other thing we may have confused our youth about. We often pursued the wrong stuff. In fact, we may have suggested that stuff is what we pursue. Stuff like wealth, possessions, status, ownership and more. I'm not suggesting that there is anything wrong with our stuff, but we might have sent the message that stuff is the measure of a man or woman. And if we read scripture carefully, we see that wisdom is better than all the stuff the world has to offer. Scripture says it this way: “Take my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold, for wisdom is better than jewels, and all that you desire (or possess) cannot compare with her!”
Go find someone to mentor. But make sure you show them where to find real gold.
Father, as we seek you today, we pray that you show us who you want us to mentor that they may know all that you have to offer them. We also pray that you show us who we may seek out to help us in our spiritual and psychological growth, that we may be more effective in the kingdom work you have given us. In Jesus’ name, amen.
You’re Time with God’s Word
Proverbs 8:1-11, 14, 19, 32-35 ESV
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