5 Reasons Women Won’t Mentor

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.                                                                                               2 Corinthians 1:3-4

 

“What is righteousness?”

“How do I begin to try to ‘take every thought captive’ before I blurt out something I regret?”

“How do I do the right thing when my husband is doing the wrong thing?”

Questions like these have been the topics of great mentoring conversations over recent years. I am always amazed at how many women are willing to give up a great blessing because they don’t want to mentor. They never say they don’t want to but when I suggest it, they give me an excuse.

The top 5 excuses I have heard are these:

1. I’m too busy, I just don’t have the time.

Time is a funny thing. We always have enough for what we want to do. We squeeze things in, unless we don’t want to. The Bible says that older women are to “teach what is good, and so train the younger women.” Teaching what is good can be done in many venues; around your kitchen table for tea or at the back of a church on Sunday morning. We may have opportunity in a Sunday School class or small group where we can interact between generations. Look at your life, the time for mentoring is in there somewhere. If you don’t see it, keep looking.

2. I don’t know my Bible that well.

All you need to know is a little more than the one you are mentoring and then keep growing!

3. I’ve done my teaching, it’s my turn to relax.

Really, throwing in the towel before God takes you home? I am afraid this is an American retirement mentality that does not exist in the Bible. The less structured time you have, the more available you are for the younger woman whose days are filled with plenty of things she could use help with.

4. I hate to cook. (Yes, someone said this!)

There is more to teaching a woman to love her husband and children, to being self-controlled, pure, kind, and submissive, (Titus 2:3-5) than teaching her to cook. These days if someone wants to learn to cook all she has to do is Google it or ask Siri. If you love the Lord and His Word, all the cooking mentors can come from somewhere else. God will give you someone to mentor who doesn’t care about cooking or already knows how. He’s that good!

5. My marriage wasn’t very good, what would I be able to tell someone else?

How great for a younger woman to know she doesn’t have to be perfect to survive!  Imagine being able to walk someone through the bumps you have already navigated and grown from. The ability to encourage another woman often comes from what we have lived through and seen God use to increase our faith.

Think about how you might answer the question, “What is righteousness?” Then remember, God has commanded us to mentor the younger generation.

Spiritual growth is aided when we do it in community.  There are great blessings being lost to lousy excuses.