I used to have a man who mentored me spiritually. I had asked him to because I thought he would be a good fit for me.
Unfortunately, he was (and probably still is) part of the camp whose typical advice can be clichéd into "just pray and read your Bible."
In a sense, I get where that line of thinking comes from. It is, after all, the Spirit that dwells within us that guides us into all truth (1 John 1:27).
But God, in his incredible humility, also allows us to need each other:
- "God" is actually a Trinity of persons and thus a circle of relationship (1 John 5:7)
- God brings all the animals before Adam and, lacking true companionship, makes him a wife, Eve (Genesis 2:18-22)
- Most of the Ten Commandments (6/10) deal with horizontal (human) relationships (Exodus 20:1-17)
- We are called to love one another (Mark 12:31)
Although we could get everything from God, He allows us to be fed from others.
This is where my mentor comes back in.
He strongly emphasized, on several occasions, how useless modern psychology is to the spiritual life. And rightly so (1 Corinthians 2:14).
But my profession is that of a teacher. There are restrictions on how I am allowed to share my faith when interacting with students.
And so I must avail myself of the best psychological science available when attempting to help them with their struggles (in addition to praying for them).
It's for this reason that I must dip my toes into the "terrible" (for him) waters of psychology (similar to the way, as a Protestant I've dipped my toes into some Catholic schools of thought).
It is also a passion of mine, something that lights my inner fires.
And the world needs more people who are alive.
So while that advice is good for me, it also has its limits.
Just as all human advice does.
