Imperfect fathering is a gateway for redemptive mentoring.
I love this kind of scene whenever it pops up in movies; it tugs at my heart and reminds me of what God is calling us to... watch it now...
The thing is – we wouldn't want to compare God to the failings Jack had made to his son – because God is perfect... But actually there are two things here we CAN identify with.
a) That we are all imperfect... but that can be a brilliant ingredient for great mentoring.
In fact within our own mentoring there is a role for us learning as mentors about ourselves through these moments. Moments when we realise we are in this way or that way less than perfect and have to face up to repairing the damage to ourselves and those around us.
Our default is to feel shame about having to do this – but isn't this the work of sanctification in our lives?
The Holy Spirit revealing to us and convicting us of the ways we are falling short of God's standard – and then helping us to be fixed and to grow towards being more Christ-like...
Our default is to feel shame about having to do this – but isn't this the work of sanctification in our lives?
The Holy Spirit revealing to us and convicting us of the ways we are falling short of God's standard – and then helping us to be fixed and to grow towards being more Christ-like...
We should celebrate that God cares enough to do this to us! If we can allow and rejoice in this process, even though it is painful we can use that to our advantage.
It will release more in the lives of our children and our mentorees than our trying to pretend we are already perfect and know it all will ever do! ...God only uses sinners to build his kingdom of righteousness.
It will release more in the lives of our children and our mentorees than our trying to pretend we are already perfect and know it all will ever do! ...God only uses sinners to build his kingdom of righteousness.
b) That God loves the work of redemption, and we can be a part of it.
In this clip it was Jack making amends for a damage that had occurred in his own relationship with his son. As ambassadors of Christ we may need to go through a scene similar to this many times – but for someone else's son/daughter. As I said, I believe we are entering a generation where spiritual and emotional orphanhood is reaching epidemic levels.
Behavioural problems in young people, I believe, are largely a result of the lack of leadership, inspiration, love and connectedness in the home which leads to boredom and disaffection and a culture where peers become more of a reference point than family.
As mentors we are the people who most often will come face to face with this as we meet young men and women who are totally lost; just trying to make it up as they go along. It is our job to bring the healing to them and attach them to a church family if their own cannot be restored.
As mentors we are the people who most often will come face to face with this as we meet young men and women who are totally lost; just trying to make it up as they go along. It is our job to bring the healing to them and attach them to a church family if their own cannot be restored.
We will be the Jack Shepards to the millions of little Davids out there. It may not be directly our fault but we must take responsibility for it; even using the hurt we may have felt from our own fathers; and be the ones saying, “I will ALWAYS love you – in my eyes you can NEVER fail. I just want to be part of your life.”
May we all be reminded of God speaking that over us all, individually, right now. And may we use that mentoring of God to motivate us to go and speak those words to the many who have never, ever, heard that said to them before.
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