“What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you – guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.” (2 Timothy 1:13-14)

I have been lucky enough to have mentors through the years that really invested in me. In each situation someone who has been “around the block” took the time and effort to show me the way things are to be done. Always providing sound advice but also some tough words when needed. These mentors helped shape my understanding of how the real world works. And years later, I still try to incorporate these same core values in my current role today. Granted, there is no secret path to success, but what they gave me was a new way to think and find solutions. I was provided a structure to follow that didn’t magically provide all the right answers but did allow problems to be casted into a framework that could be solved. It was a pattern to follow that was tested by these individuals over decades of doing the job. In today’s verse we hear from another mentor (the Apostle Paul) providing his own guidance to the mentee (Timothy).  And what perfect, and eternally relevant advice it is. Paul, very simply states that Timothy received the required teaching “as the pattern” Paul had showed him. And that he should use and protect this teaching because it came out of his faith and love in Jesus Christ. And like today, Paul knew that this teaching was in contention with the world, needing to be safe guarded. Likewise we too need to hold this same pattern, using what the great mentor (Paul) said, apply it and safeguard it in our lives today – doing so with the same love and power through the Holy Spirit.