A mentor is a trusted advisor. Not necessarily a technical teacher but one who will walk beside you and give you advice and direction throughout your life and career. A mentor is going where you want to go and a person in whose steps you would want to follow.
You may have different mentors for different areas of your life. You may look to your parents or a relative as an example of how to live. A teacher or a supervisor may become a mentor. One thing is necessary in a mentor: good character. You want someone who will give you an honest assessment and help to teach you right from wrong.
The godly offer good counsel; they teach right from wrong. They have made God’s law their own, so they will never slip from his path.
– Psalm 37:30-31 (NLT)
You won’t (or shouldn’t) just walk up and ask somebody to be your mentor. The right person will simply become a mentor to you as you build a relationship by asking questions and getting to know that person and their life. Watch how that person lives and interacts with others.
Are you a follower of Jesus? If you are, then the right mentor for you is someone who is following Jesus and has followed him for some time.
We use the word “mentor” because Mentor was an advisor of Telemachus in Homer’s Odyssey. However, the perfect example of one we should follow is Jesus the Messiah. Your mentor should be able to say, “Follow me as I follow Jesus.”
Maybe we should change the name. You need a “little Jesus”, not a “mentor”.
The way of a fool is right in his own eyes,
but a wise man is he who listens to counsel.
– Proverbs 12:15 (TLB)
:p