The Best Investment

“I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another.” (Romans 15:14, ESV)

When we talk about investments, we often mean money. But one of the best investments we can ever make is the time we spend investing in the lives of others.

Schools and corporations have both discovered that personal involvement and teaching help students or employees develop their full potential. A mentor is an ordinary person who is willing to share her time and experience to help another grow.

Although the word is not found in the Bible, mentoring is a biblical concept. We find so many examples of men and women who invested their time and effort to help others reach their full potential.

• Moses invested in Joshua.
• Eli, the priest, invested in young Samuel.
• Naomi invested in her widowed daughter-in-law, Ruth.
• Mordecai invested in his orphaned cousin, Esther.
• Barnabas, the encourager, invested in Paul.
• Paul invested in the lives of several, including Timothy and Titus.
• Priscilla and Aquila invested in Apollos.
• Elizabeth invested in Mary, her young relative and an expectant mother.

Mary came to visit Elizabeth at a very crucial point in both of their lives. Both were expecting a child through unusual circumstances. Elizabeth was beyond childbearing years, and Mary had never known a man. She had been overshadowed by the Holy Ghost (Luke 1:35). Mary, who was a teenager, spent three months with Elizabeth. What encouragement and wisdom she must have received from this righteous woman during their time together. Mary would face many things in the days and months ahead, but her time with Elizabeth no doubt helped prepare her.

Each of us has the potential to become a Naomi, a Priscilla, or an Elizabeth. It may not always be a formal mentoring situation, but the time we spend with a coworker, a relative, a youth from church, a young mom, or a new convert can make a tremendous difference in that person’s life.

Titus 2:3-5 tells us:

“Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.”

How old, you may ask, must I be before I can mentor? Age isn’t the criteria. You do need to be farther in your walk with God than the one you will teach. The mentor must know God in a very personal way and must live what she will teach. She should possess a strong foundation in God’s Word (I Timothy 4:16). This is a mature Christian modeling Christ to a younger woman or new convert.

The mentor must also have a heart for others and a vision to see them grow spiritually. Otherwise, she will not be willing to commit the time necessary to help a younger person develop her full potential in God. The mentor must show more interest in what she can give to the relationship than what she will gain from it (Philippians 2:4).

Are you currently investing your time in someone’s life? Will they later look back and say, “She really spent her time in loving me and teaching me how grow in my relationship with God.” Seeing someone maturing in their walk with the Lord is the best reward we can receive.

Lord, thank You for those who encouraged me, corrected me, and taught me as I matured in my walk with You. Now I am willing to dedicate my time to teach and encourage others as they seek to grow in their relationship with You. Use me, Lord, is my prayer.