Here is a devotion to start your day!
Also available now at Power, Love & Miracles:
Hidden Heroes of the Bible: The Empty Tomb. Chapters 16-17, Conclusion
Thomas: Doubt- Doorway to Deeper Faith. The Bible Unplugged podcast, episode 74
Heroes: Everyday Mentors
Everyday mentoring as slow-burn heroism
Scripture: Titus 2:1–8
In all things show yourself an example of good works. In your teaching, show integrity, seriousness, incorruptibility, and soundness of speech that can’t be condemned, that he who opposes you may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say about us.
Reflection
Paul’s instructions to Titus are surprisingly down-to-earth. Instead of focusing on grand strategies, he describes older men and women living lives worthy of respect—sober-minded, loving, self-controlled, sound in faith—and then he says they should teach the younger.
This is not a formal classroom. It’s life-on-life mentoring: older women training younger women in love, purity, kindness, and faithfulness at home; older men modeling steadiness and integrity so younger men can learn what it looks like to follow Jesus in their own season.
The assumption is that faith is handed down not only through sermons but through shared lives.
Think about the people who have shaped you: a grandparent who prayed, a Sunday school teacher who listened, a neighbor who took interest, a coworker who modeled integrity, a seasoned believer who shared their mistakes as well as their victories. Their influence was probably slow, sometimes subtle, but it sank deep.
If you are farther along in years or experience, you may feel disqualified by your imperfections. Yet your scars and stories may be exactly what someone younger needs. You don’t have to present yourself as a finished product—only as a willing companion.
And if you are younger, you are invited to watch, ask, listen, and learn. Seek out those whose lives ring with quiet faithfulness. Let their faith be an influence on you.
Unassuming heroes are often those who sit at kitchen tables, walk on neighborhood sidewalks, or linger after church to talk, gently passing on what they have learned of God.
Centering Prayer
Lord,
You weave generations together in Your family. Thank You for the older believers who have poured into my life, and for the younger ones You will place in my path. Give me humility to learn and courage to share. Let my years—however many I have—become a gift to someone else. – Amen
Practice for Today
Identify one person a step or two behind you in life or faith. Offer a listening ear, a story, or a small piece of hard-won wisdom, and ask God to keep you both humble and open.
Journaling Prompt
What parts of my story—successes and failures—could be a gift to someone younger if I were willing to share them?
Carry This Prayer With You
Breathe in: Let me learn from those before me…
Breathe out: … and pour wisdom into those who follow
This work is freely shared. If it nourishes your life with God, you’re welcome to help sustain it.