Mentors - Teach for your Absence

I'm always bummed by what happened to Joash. He had this incredible mentor, the High Priest, named Jehoiada, who had cared for him since he was a young lad. But after Jehoiada died, Joash "abandoned the house of the Lord, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherim and the idols." (2 Chronicles 24:18).

This happened after such an incredible number of good things that Joash did including repairing the temple and destroyed the idols.

So what happened? It's hard to know for sure, but it seems that perhaps as a mentor, Jehoiada held on too tightly to Joash. His wife had hidden Joash from a murder plot when he was a baby. At seven he had placed him on the throne. Later he found two wives for Joash and many of the reforms that came about were really his.

What Jehoiada didn't do was pass on the faith and trust in Yahweh in such a way that Joash would trust God even when Jehoiada wasn't around.

I think that's a good lesson for us as we mentor and disciple (and parent). Our goal should not be to have those that we mentor do what we say and mirror what we do. Our goal should be to pass on the truth of the gospel and train them in such a way that they begin to serve God without our prompting.

It is human nature for us to want those that look up to us to depend on us. As mentors our job is to put ourselves out of a job.

Pastor Tom