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“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control; against such things there is no law.” - Galatians 5:22-23
When we walk in the Spirit, we can’t help but model the affect the Holy Spirit has on our lives. The Spirit fills us up and guides us. He counsels us and convicts us of the things that are not of God. It’s literally impossible to not model the fruit of the Spirit when we’re walking inline with God’s will for our lives. But while we know what the fruit of the Spirit IS, do we really know what these words mean? After all, the joy of the Lord goes much deeper than “the emotion of great delight or happiness” that the dictionary defines it as. The same it is with peace. The peace that passes all human understanding goes so much deeper than “an absence of fear, anxiety, war, etc”. This week, John and Zach are (finally) back on the podcast to talk through what peace is in terms of a fruit of the Spirit, how it works itself in our lives, and how we can lead our mentees in enjoying a life of peace.
Purchase the You Can Mentor book:
You Can Mentor: How to Impact Your Community, Fulfill the Great Commission, and Break Generational Curses
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You Can Mentor: How to Impact Your Community, Fulfill the Great Commission, and Break Generational Curses
youcanmentor.com
Creators & Guests
What is You Can Mentor: A Christian Mentoring Podcast?
You Can Mentor is a network that equips and encourages mentors and mentoring leaders through resources and relationships to love God, love others, and make disciples in their own community.
We want to hear from you! Send any mentoring questions to hello@youcanmentor.com, and we'll answer them on our podcast. We want to help you become the best possible mentor you can be. Also, if you are a mentoring organization, church, or non-profit, connect with us to join our mentoring network or to be spotlighted on our show.
Please find out more at www.youcanmentor.com or find us on social media. You will find more resources on our website to help equip and encourage mentors. We have downloadable resources, cohort opportunities, and an opportunity to build relationships with other Christian mentoring leaders.
You can mentor is a podcast about the power of building relationships with kids from hard places in the name of Jesus. Every episode will help you overcome common mentoring obstacles and give you the confidence you need to invest in the lives of others. You can mentor.
Speaker 2:Hey, mentors. Just a reminder about the You Can Mentor book. It's titled You Can Mentor, How to Impact Your Community, Fulfill the Great Commission, and Break Generational Curses. The whole point of this book is to equip and encourage mentors with new tools and ideas on how to make the most of their mentor mentee relationship. If you're a mentor, hey, go pick it up.
Speaker 2:And if you're a mentoring organization, pick some up for all of your mentors. If you would like to order mass copies, like more than 20, send an email to me, zach@youcanmentor.com, and we will get you guys a special price. But go and pick up that book. It's good. You can mentor.
Speaker 3:Welcome to You Can Mentor. I'm John, sitting here with my friend, Zach.
Speaker 2:Hi, John.
Speaker 3:Hi, Zach. Hi. Man, are you ready to dive into this?
Speaker 2:I don't know if I am on this point.
Speaker 3:So good. So as you know, we've been talking together. And by the way, it's been many moons since you and I have sat down together and and recorded some quality casting.
Speaker 2:John, we just we just made a podcast 20 minutes ago.
Speaker 3:Yeah. But before that
Speaker 2:It's been a couple weeks.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Right. Lots of big life things going on. Mhmm. Circumstances.
Speaker 3:Yes, John. Challenges. Lots of opportunities. Oh, nice. It's really true.
Speaker 3:You know?
Speaker 2:Is every challenge an opportunity?
Speaker 3:I think so.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I think so too.
Speaker 3:Yeah. I had a very good friend. You know, I'm actually mentioned this in my book, Mephibosheth, The Search for Identity Purpose and Community. There was a That was a plug. I'm sorry.
Speaker 2:You know, in my book, you can mentor. I said something like it too.
Speaker 3:We have books. There was a many years ago, I was doing youth ministry in Northwest Houston. You're just sitting there with that smile, and that's incredible. Thank you for that.
Speaker 2:You're welcome.
Speaker 3:I feel like we should put our books up, like, just kind of in our eye eyesight every time we record together, you know, just next to one another. Yours is a little bit higher than mine, of course. But, of course, wouldn't that be a treat? So years ago, I was a youth minister in northwest Houston, and there was this really great man. His name was Terry Nelson, and Terry has has since died.
Speaker 3:But at the time, Terry was the guy who would say, hey, John. I'm I wanna, you know, I'm going to be there to help you set up chairs. I'm going to help you get the room ready, that kind of thing, right? So for every Sunday morning, he would say, Hey, when we're done setting up the youth room, let's just kind of sit and pray. And I just want to ask you, you know, how life's going?
Speaker 3:And so he was kind of a really neat, really endearing accountability, you know, mentor and really enjoyed our time together with Terry. But one thing that Terry would always say is that as soon as I would say something like, Oh, man, I've just got this problem with whatever he'd say, Hey, John, remember, cancer is a problem. Everything else is an opportunity. And I just thought, man, you know what? You might say, well, that's just kind of lip service.
Speaker 3:I mean, come on. But I I would say I think that's really a matter of perspective and understanding that our words matter. Right? And to to frame things in a certain way is also really important.
Speaker 2:It is. That's a good story, John. Thanks a lot.
Speaker 3:Terry Nelson.
Speaker 2:Terry.
Speaker 3:What a good guy.
Speaker 2:Do you know what I bet Terry loves?
Speaker 3:What's that? Peace. Absolutely.
Speaker 2:That's what we're talking about today on our podcast.
Speaker 3:I would say that Terry was really a man of peace for sure.
Speaker 2:That's great. So that's why we're talking about him.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. Kinda. So the fruit of the spirit, we're man, we're starting to get deep here now.
Speaker 2:Yeah. This is the 3rd episode.
Speaker 3:Yeah. I talked about love, talked about joy. Now it's peace.
Speaker 2:And this is what I love about this. It's so it's the fruit of the spirit. So if you're walking in the spirit, you are going to, in some way, somehow exhibit all of these things. And without the spirit, you can't do any of them. And so, man, if you needed a reason to walk in the spirit and to get with the Lord and get filled up, let it be so that you can have love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, self control, faithfulness.
Speaker 2:I mean, all these things. Yeah. And I just think about me, if I don't spend time with the Lord for a day or 2 or a week, I'm a mess. And especially in this topic, peace. And we talked about love, and we talked about joy, and I think they're all intertwined.
Speaker 2:Like, peace has a lot to do with loving yourself, has a lot to do with loving your neighbor, and walking in joy comes from the fact that you have faith, and you have hope, and that is going to put you at peace. Mhmm. Definitely. Oh, man. It's crazy.
Speaker 2:The Bible my mind is exploding right now. These wonderful things connected.
Speaker 3:Gosh. But, you know, it also gives us the opportunity to really speak individually about these components of the fruit of the spirit. And I wanna also add that we hope that our mentors listening will maybe think about, hey. I wonder if I should maybe take some weeks to talk about each one of these components with my mentee and really get them to think about some of these things to understand, 1st and foremost, who God is because these are the things that describe who he is. And this is how we understand who he is by understanding what these attributes are, but they're also transferable.
Speaker 3:These are things that that you and I have as followers of Christ and that we wanna see developed in our lives. And then these are things that we can transfer, that we can talk about with our mentee to say, hey. We want we wanna see this developed in your life as well. So sometimes I've I've had the opportunity with meeting with a mentee to say, hey. Tell me what you think peace is.
Speaker 3:Like, what's define peace for me. And more often than not, you know what the definition is that they'll share?
Speaker 2:I've got peace like a river. I've got peace like a river.
Speaker 3:That's usually what happens. The the kid will actually start singing that song. Yeah. That's not true at all. Again, I wanna apologize, everybody.
Speaker 3:We'd like Zach mentioned, we just recorded the podcast. I think he's saying about 19 times over the the course of the of the podcast. I thought it was kind of all out of his system. It's not.
Speaker 2:It's still in there. I'm sorry.
Speaker 3:So when I say so, hey, man. Tell me what what pieces, like, define it for me. And oftentimes, what they'll do is and sometimes we kinda think about this. We always think about opposites of. Right?
Speaker 3:So we'd say, well, peace is the absence of war. Right? It's the absence of conflict. And although I would say true, peace is the absence of war, but it's kinda characterized by that. It's actually not the best working definition, and I like to kind of think in mental images a lot of times.
Speaker 3:And so tell me what what you think about this, that that instead of thinking about the absence of war, we actually kinda focus on what what really is there, and that is harmony and unity and even growth because let me challenge you with this too. When we think about, like, the scene of a graveyard, when you say that your average graveyard is is pretty pretty peaceful? Maybe.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I mean, besides the whole, like, just a graveyard is creepy.
Speaker 3:But is it quiet? Really creepy, or are they stereotypically creepy, Zach?
Speaker 2:They're probably stereotypical. Typically creepy.
Speaker 3:Because when I say graveyard, I think you think thriller. I think that's exactly what you're thinking about.
Speaker 2:Are you you're just baiting me into singing more.
Speaker 3:I think you're thinking about, like, a light shining up behind the
Speaker 2:headstone and, like,
Speaker 3:smoke rolling in.
Speaker 2:I am thinking of it just kind of being kinda eerie. Like, like, ghosts.
Speaker 3:Exactly. Ghost sounds, chains, and they're by the way, did you know I don't know if people know this, but we record in Waco where we mutually live Yes. But separate homes. Did you know that Waco has one of the most popular graveyards in the state? No.
Speaker 3:Yeah. People are just dying to get in.
Speaker 2:It was so bad. Oh my gosh. Okay. Let's keep talking about piece inventory.
Speaker 3:I have to admit to you, Zach, and listeners that, like, my my one go my one go to dad joke is that joke when I'm with my my family and we drive by a graveyard. And I just wanna pass that along to any moms and dads out there that it can be your joke now. Just look over look over at the cemetery or graveyard and just say, oh, man. Have you guys heard how popular that place is? And then and then it gets my kids every time.
Speaker 2:Okay. So let's talk about peace. Okay.
Speaker 3:Instead of thinking about peace being a graveyard, Zach, you know, the rest in peace. Right? I mean, let's think about it. Let's reframe it as a garden instead. When you say that garden is a really peaceful location as well, I'm gonna give you a moment.
Speaker 2:I'm so sorry. Yes. Let's talk about
Speaker 3:a garden. Why? Because there's growth. Yes. Because there's because there's development.
Speaker 3:There's there's life there. Right? And so this is this is what we get to kind of enjoy and experience when it comes to peace. It's not it's not this quietness and and stillness and nothing moving, but instead a life that is lived in peace, that knows the peace of Christ is going to be more like a garden. And so that's something that we get to cultivate, and we see in our own lives, and we see in our mentors as well.
Speaker 2:And, like, whenever I think about peace, I think about just having this inner, like inner strength almost. Like it does not matter what's going on. It's, you know, if walking in It's almost like, and this isn't like theologically correct or anything, but it's like joy is the overflow of peace. Mhmm. And like, you can't really be joyful unless you're at peace in your heart.
Speaker 2:And I would say that you can't really be at peace in your heart unless you believe and have faith that the Lord is good and that the Lord is for you and that he's making all things new. And just to have that, I think, and we're about to talk about it, but the best picture is Jesus sleeping in the boat. I mean, waves and wind and crashing lightning and thunder, and he's just at total peace. And how often do we have waves, and lightning, and thunder in our lives? How often do our mentees have in their lives?
Speaker 2:And what a great invitation that we have from the prince of peace to live our lives like he did.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. So Jesus said in John 1633, I've said these things to you that in me, you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation, but take heart. I have overcome the world. So you're absolutely right.
Speaker 3:When you also think about Jesus teaching over the foundations, right, the bedrock that the man who builds on the rock is going to weather the storms. And so peace is not the absence of war. It's not we don't find peace by saying, lord, will you just kind of go throughout the all circumstances of my life and just and just take out everything that is conflict and everything where there's tension and just kinda bring all of the spirit of peace. Instead, it really is more so we have this this image of Christ who is asleep on the boat right in the midst of the storm, and it doesn't faze him because he is a man of peace. And that's the peace that transcends trouble.
Speaker 2:And like, this is what's so crazy about peace. You know, peace is not a plus b equals peace. Like, if I want to get stronger, I can go to the gym, and I can eat a bunch of protein, and I'm going to get stronger. But peace, like there's no equation. There's no 10 step guide to be more peaceful.
Speaker 2:Like peace, in my opinion, in my experiences, can only be found through a relationship with Jesus. And I just think that that is so interesting. Like, peace is the thing that we don't we might not talk about a lot. Like, I don't find myself talking about peace a lot, But everyone wants it. Mhmm.
Speaker 2:Like, everyone. It doesn't matter if you're 6, 16, or 60, you want peace. And yet, it's so hard to figure out how to have it in your life.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. And I so I think we hadn't talked about this even before recording this, but I think that one of the integral parts of peace and under understanding and truly understanding of it is has a lot to do with evangelism because it really is about this peace with God. Like, this gives us an opportunity as a mentor to have a real conversation with our mentee about our faith and saying that, you know, as part of your testimony, it might be, hey. I can tell you that there was a time in my life when I was just really like, there was battle all around me, but there was also lots of internal conflict. I had no idea about really who I was.
Speaker 3:I had no idea why I was here. I struggled in so many relationships because I was a mess. Then I found Christ. Then someone shared with me that the prince of peace who loves me, right, and who gave himself for me. And that's how I found and began the journey to to finding peace and to finding wholeness, to understanding who I was in Christ, understanding what my life was to be characterized by.
Speaker 3:So, Mentor, I kinda just share that with you to say, I think having a conversation about peace with our mentee really does give us that natural opportunity to share our faith in that way, in a very real way, in a very practical way as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I I'm really curious to know what's the opposite of peace.
Speaker 3:Well, I I think it's discord. I mean, I really do think it is. I think it's confusion. I think that it's that it's lots of energy spent in going in a lot of different ways and not getting anything done.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I think division, disunity, discourse, unhealthy conflict. And I say all this to say that in my adult life, I'm 40, you're almost 50, It's hard for us to have peace. How much harder for our mentee who is not an adult yet? And there's a lot of ways that the enemy can get us away from peace.
Speaker 2:And there's inner issues that we have, and then there's outer. And, man, the enemy, he wants nothing more than to get us walking absent of peace. Mhmm. So, what are the things that can keep you or your mentee from peace? Well, there are the things inside your heart, like lack of forgiveness.
Speaker 2:Like, man, if you don't forgive, that root of bitterness is going to come and it's just going to eat you alive. There is anger. Right? Which comes from undealt with hurt. And so, if you don't address that, that's gonna jack up your peace.
Speaker 2:You know, especially now with all of our kiddos and heck, even us, fear, and anxiety, and depression, and anger, like all of those things can get you off your piece. And that's not even talking about financial issues, or health issues or divorce or getting made fun of or getting left out. Like, there are so many ways that the enemy can jack up your peace. No kidding.
Speaker 3:And
Speaker 2:yet there's only one way to get peace. And that's Jesus.
Speaker 3:100%. One source. So Paul in Philippians 47, he tells us that rather than being anxious okay. And so anxiety, I think that's something to really think about and obviously very timely when it comes to people all over the world and with so many struggles is to hear it. It just sounds kinda so modern for Paul to say, hey.
Speaker 3:Rather than rather than struggling with anxiety, if we will entrust ourselves to the Lord, if we will pray, and if we'll offer thanksgiving to God, if we let our requests be made known to him, he tells us that the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding get this and this is really interesting because the peace of God. Right? So we're talking about what peace is as a component of the fruit of the spirit, but this peace actually has an action. It says that it will guard your minds and your hearts in Christ Jesus. And so it's this idea of, like, a garrison.
Speaker 3:Okay? The word guard. It means that the peace of God will come and will fortify our hearts. That even in the midst of difficult circumstances, even when things are going badly, even when the world around us seems to be falling apart, the peace of God, it will garrison. Okay?
Speaker 3:And that's such a, like, a military strong word. It will it will guard our hearts. It will fortify our hearts so that we'll know that inner peace and that the calm and the serenity and the tranquility that characterized Christ will be in us
Speaker 2:as well. And that's what we want for our mentees. I mean, I want more than anything from my mentee that even in the most difficult of circumstances, he still can have that inner peace and that calm and that heart is one with the Lord.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:And that is so hard today. I mean, it is difficult. So how can we as mentors live as people of peace and give our mentees an example to look to, but also start a discussion with them about what peace is and then how do we help guide them to find their own peace and to deal with the things that are keeping them from peace. That right there is the win.
Speaker 3:For sure. So let's talk about real quickly the two directions of peace. Maybe we'll put it that way, the two directions of peace. So there's vertical peace and there's horizontal peace. Alright?
Speaker 3:And one is dependent on the other. So as we talked about, do we know we can only find peace in Christ? So this question is is maybe a good one for us to to challenge our mentee with and also be able to share the answer to how we found it. But it's it's basically just saying, do you have peace with God? So that's that vertical piece that we're talking about.
Speaker 3:Do you have peace with God? And what you get the opportunity to share the story that you get to share is is your testimony that you indeed have peace with God through Christ because you've become a believer, because you've believed, you've confessed, and you've accepted Christ as your savior. So that's that vertical piece. And then there's the horizontal piece, and that is how does that peace with God help to affect the peace that you have with others as well? So are you are you experiencing that as well?
Speaker 3:And many times, you'll talk to your mentee and and discover, hey. They're really struggling with people in their lives. They're struggling with teachers. They're struggling with coaches, with friends, with family members. And oftentimes, it can just be taken back to, well, tell me about the peace that you're experiencing with God.
Speaker 3:And it can be, well, I I don't know. I don't know anything about that. You know? And that, I think, really sets the tone for being able to share in honesty and and and gentleness your faith.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And I think that the peace that we want for our mentees can go out the window whenever they experience hurt, and they don't know what to do with it. Mhmm. And so it's like they might be mad at their teacher because their teacher gave them a bad grade. They might be mad at their coach because they're not starting on the football team.
Speaker 2:They might be mad at their friend because they had a party and didn't invite them. They might be mad at their parents because they got divorced. Or, right? And so, like, what a great opportunity we have as mentors to say, hey, look, like, you have these hurts in your life, and here's what it's doing to you. It's creating lack of peace amongst your peers, and it's also creating lack of peace in your heart, and it's keeping you far from God.
Speaker 2:And so, like, peace is a big deal. Mhmm. And I know that for me, staying in his perfect peace is a continuous act. Like, I have to continuously be like, okay, how am I doing with the Lord? How am I doing with my wife?
Speaker 2:How am I doing with my kids? How am I doing with my friends? How am I doing with my parents? Like, da da da. Right?
Speaker 2:And like a full time job. Mhmm. But I think one thing, John, that you said that is so important is that peace transcends troubles. So why don't you tell us tell us more about that?
Speaker 3:Yeah. That's the beautiful thing about this, really, that peace is more powerful then. Right? Because as Jesus says, take heart. I've overcome the world.
Speaker 3:In this in this world, you will have many troubles. They will be waiting for you. You know, they will be with you first thing in the morning. They will be your companion all day long. And guess what?
Speaker 3:When you lay your head down at night, you'll still want to entertain those those issues. But he says, take heart. I have overcome the world. So in essence, what Christ is saying is the peace that I give is stronger and is permanent compared to the struggles of this world, which are temporary. And so I think that's why it's so important that Paul again, I I go back to that Philippians 47 because he really does give us a directive here to say if then.
Speaker 3:Right? It's kind of like if you took logic in college, you know, you dealt with that if then statement, and it basically is a cause and effect. If you do this, well, guess what? This will happen. So Paul says, if you pray, if you offer your thanksgiving to God, if you let your request be known, he says, then the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, which is greater than anything that you can come up with, any excuse that can be made, any circumstance that can be dealt with, it will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Speaker 3:So, like, it will it will be activated in that way. And I think that's what's really incredible about peace is to think that it is an action word even as opposed to just kinda some location that we wanna find ourselves in. And, you know, it's really not that. It's more of kind of this proactive of saying, lord, would you would you be my peace in this moment? You know, would you would you be with me so that I understand that I'm not alone in this and understanding that you are stronger than the circumstance?
Speaker 3:That's the key.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I think about the word shalom. Right? And tell me what you think of whenever you think of the word shalom and peace.
Speaker 3:So shalom is Hebrew, right, for peace. Oh. Did you know that?
Speaker 2:But it's a different kind of peace. Like, shalom is peace in every area of your life. It's like relationally, spiritually,
Speaker 3:health, all. Yeah. But So I okay. I do have this really cool quote from this theologian. Do you wanna hear that?
Speaker 2:You love quotes.
Speaker 3:I I do.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Please go ahead.
Speaker 3:So let's see. This is Paul Plantinga, and he defines shalom in this way. Paul or Neil? It's Neil. That's right.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Okay. Yours says Neil?
Speaker 2:Yeah. We're gonna go
Speaker 3:with that. He says that that the that pieces are shalom rather, that it's the webbing together of humans, God, and all creation in justice, fulfillment, and delight. It's called peace, but it means far more than mere peace of mind or a ceasefire between enemies. In the Bible, shalom means universal flourishing, wholeness, and delight. Shalom, in other words, is the way things ought to be.
Speaker 3:And that just reminds me of, you know, when we pray the Lord's prayer. Right? Father, that it would be on earth as it is in heaven. Like, it's peaceful here when it reflects what is going on there. And that's that's really such a beautiful responsibility that we as as mentors and as Christ followers, we get to be a part of.
Speaker 3:We are the agents that allow for it to be on earth as it is in heaven, as as it ought to be. That's big stuff.
Speaker 2:It is. Okay. So let's wrap it up. What are the takeaways for mentors in regards to peace?
Speaker 3:I would say it's back to those directions, Zach. So, like, it's this understanding of saying, look, the only reason that I can be experiencing peace in my heart and and thus in my life, right, in my actions is because I have peace with God. I have this vertical peace. It is found through Christ alone, and it is because I know Christ as my savior. Right?
Speaker 3:I have indwelling Holy Spirit inside me, and so he is my counselor. He is my comforter. He is the presence of God, and that determines how I see everything around me. Right? How I see myself and how I see my loved ones and how I how I just function in the world.
Speaker 3:So that vertical piece is then what informs my horizontal piece with those around me. And that is what the mentor can hopefully share through patience and grace and, you know, our our testimony, evangelism, just something that I believe about that is something that that it's not really about. And and, again, we have a luxury with our mentee, which is to say we may have a semester with them or a year or even longer than that. Oftentimes, if you're in a formal mentoring relationship, you've you've got some time. I would just be able to say, you know, it's great that we're not talking about this quick, you know, shotgun kind of approach to evangelism.
Speaker 3:Like, hey. I've only got 5 minutes, so I need to get this this done quickly. I would just really allow the Lord to work in his timing for conversations to be had, for questions to be asked so that I, as a mentor, can can sit with my, a mentee and and just get the opportunity to naturally talk about what the Lord has done in my life. A lot of times what I would do even as I was meeting with a junior high student, as I was a youth minister and was a part of their junior high mentoring program, It was just to kind of be able to share maybe on a weekly basis one story, one instance. When I was in junior high, you know, when I was their age, maybe something funny for them to laugh at of just how what culture was like, but also kinda how my brain worked and maybe some things that I dealt with, you know, whether it was about talking to a girl or whether it was about, you know, just being on the junior high basketball team and and being only, you know, like, 3 foot 6 or whatever I was at the time.
Speaker 3:That that kind of interaction, you know, it bonds you. Right? And so if if the opposite of peace is disunity and discord, well, what about just the understanding that peace really begins when we're unified, you know, and we're when we're connected? So, mentor, just be seeking those connecting opportunities and understanding that that that's part of your testimony right there and that you get them to a point where you can really ask them, James, man, tell me about when it what you know about or or do you feel like you're experiencing peace with God and and why not? So that's a really great way to to put the ball on their court and let and be respectful of their answers.
Speaker 2:I think asking a couple questions is good, kind of like what you just said. Are you at peace with God? And then just see what they say. And if the answer is no, then you can say, okay, tell me more about that, or why not? And then, Are you enjoying the peace of God in your relationships with your family and your friends?
Speaker 2:And if they say yes, tell me more about that. If they say no, tell me more about that. And then also just, Hey, how's it going you know, with hurts? Or how's it going with your anger? How's it going with fear or anxiety or depression?
Speaker 2:Just kind of asking a question about those topics kind of gives it kind of like what you said puts the ball in their court. And if they have a desire to talk about it, they will. If they don't, then that's okay too. But asking questions is a big deal.
Speaker 3:I think sometimes our teenagers will if we were to give them the option of like, hey. What's more important to God? That you make really good moral choices or that you be at peace? I feel like they would probably say, well, I think it's really about those choices. Like, I need to be making good choices because God is perfect and and I'm not.
Speaker 3:And so I need to do the right thing. And it's like I would maybe tap the brakes on that to say, hey. Have you really given enough thought and understanding to know that God's desire is that you'd be at peace with him and that you have peace in your heart that only Christ can give, that that you'd be complete in that way? Mhmm. I think that would be really kind of and they may say, well, what in the world are we talking about?
Speaker 3:That seems really kinda hard to grasp. It's much easier for me just to think about not smoking cigarettes or not drinking alcohol or not, you know, being promiscuous. Instead, it's this well, let's really talk about that because there's some nuance to peace or, you know, what that really matters. I just I love the fact that we can always go to our mentee and say, god is closer than you think he is, and he cares more about you at the heart level than he does in about your behaviors because those are just merely symptoms. It's good, John.
Speaker 3:Good stuff, man. Great stuff. This gives me a peaceful easy feeling.
Speaker 2:And I've got a peaceful Alright. That's so good. Mentors, if you like this, share it. Talk about it, send us emails, social media, follow us on social media. You can mentor and just know that we're here for you.
Speaker 2:So if there's anything we can do to add value to your life and your mentor relationship, let us know. And we're gonna say that one thing that we always say at the end.
Speaker 3:The 3 very important words, you can mentor. Amen.