Andre Previn said, “If I miss a day of practice, I know it. If I miss two days, my manager knows it. If I miss three days, my audience, knows it.”

He was talking about the piano, but the same is true about your devotional life. When you’re spending time with God on a consistent basis, it shows. When you aren’t, it also shows. You’ll see it first, then those closest to you, and, pretty soon, it’s obvious to everyone.

Paul said that you can be “transformed by the renewing of your mind…” (Romans 12:2) This renewal — this transformation — occurs during those quiet moments we spend in the presence of God, when we open his Word and open our hearts to what the Spirit would say to us.

No matter what one accomplishes professionally in the work of the ministry, this time with God remains a daily priority. If Andre Previn needs to practice the piano every day to stay at his best, we need to practice the presence of God every day to stay at our best.

My friend, Alex, almost 30 years my senior, has a great life: happily married, financially comfortable, in business with his grown sons, involved in ministry at his church. One day I told him that he was living the dream — my dream. “I hope I have accomplished as much as you when I’m closing in on seventy,” I said.

He responded, “If you want your life to look like mine when you’re my age, you need to make the same decisions I made when I was your age.”

“Such as…?” I asked.

He said, “If you really want to know, I’ll tell you. I can guarantee that you won’t like some of my advice, and I can also guarantee it will do you good.” With that, he became my mentor. He was right. I don’t always like his advice, but I cannot measure how much his friendship has helped me.

MENTORS AND MENTORING

One thing successful people have in common is the custom of consulting mentors. It’s one reason why they’re successful. According to Ellen Eshner, a professor in the business school at Loyola Marymount, research indicates that people who use mentors are more successful than those who don’t. They get more promotions, they earn more money, and they enjoy their jobs more, she says.

There are examples of the mentoring relationship in Scripture: Elijah and Elisha, for one. Paul and Timothy, for another. God’s plan is that we learn how to master the basics of the Christian life by following good examples … until we become examples, too. This is why Paul said…

You became imitators of us and of the Lord … and so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. (1 Thessalonians 1:6-7)

WHO DO YOU IMITATE?

The answer to the biggest problems you face is out there, stored in the wisdom bank of someone you know. Or someone you need to make it a point to know. Give some thought this week to whose advice you’re taking and whose example you’re following. God’s plan is that we learn from one another. Dare to choose the best people possible to give you leadership.

If you currently don’t have a mentor, here are some steps you can take each day this week to get started.

Monday. Make a list of one to three people who excel in areas in which you wish to excel.

Tuesday. Contact them – send an email or make a phone call – asking if they are willing to invest in your life. If they agree, set an appointment.

Wednesday. Make a list of five questions your mentor can answer to help you get started on the track to personal and spiritual growth.

Thursday. Decide today what you are willing to put into the mentoring relationship. We are called to serve one another; give some thought to what you can do to benefit your mentor.

Friday. Memorize Hebrews 13:7 – “Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.”

Identify the most accomplished, happy, spiritually vibrant people you know, and decide to follow their example. If you will do what they did when they were in your place, eventually you’ll find yourself in their place. —SM

While meeting with high-some high level executives in Washington D.C. the week after the presidential election, John Maxwell overheard one of the men say, “I sure wouldn’t want to be the next president of the United States with all the economic problems facing this country.”

Maxwell’s response: “I would love to be Barack Obama right now…You show me a person who’s a great leader, and I will show you a person who loves a great challenge. That is the DNA of leadership. Leaders are not looking for the easy way out or quick exits; they love to be ‘over their heads.’”

It’s like the comment that Gene Hackman made to scab quarterback Keanu Reeves inThe Replacements: “Winners always want the ball when the game is on the line.”

Leaders understand the power of Paul’s words: Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us…” (Ephesians 3:20)

His power at work within us. This is why leaders love a challenge. It’s why winners want the ball when the game is on the line.

What challenges can you jump at this week?

In 1941, Japanese soldier Hiroo Onoda was sent to a small US-occupied island in the Philippines with orders to do all he could to hamper enemy attacks on the island. He linked up with a group of soldiers already stationed there, but within a month, all but four of the men had been killed in battle. Hiroo and the others took the hills.

In 1945 they began seeing pamphlets stating the war had ended, but Onoda dismissed them as propaganda. In the following few years, the others surrendered or died one by one, but Onoda held his position, even continued his guerilla activities … until 1974.

Onoda finally met a college dropout named Suzuki backpacking in the island who explained to him the war had ended. Still, the dedicated soldier was reluctant to believe. Finally, his former commanding officer — long since retired — flew to the island and gave Onoda his orders to lay down his arms.

There are two directions I can go with this illustration, both of which have relevant application.

The first is to realize that Hiroo Onoda’s story is one of honor. He was sent to do a job and he refused to leave his post until he received a specific order, even though it was 29 years before the order arrived. We would do well to stay in the battle ourselves — the battle that Ephesians 6:10 reminds us we’re in. We would do well to keep fighting until we hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful…come and share your master’s happiness.” (Matthew 25:21)

Another way to apply this story is to remember that so many of us — just like Lt. Onoda — are unnecessarily fighting a war that has long since been won. The wrong war. This is not the battle we’ve been called to, it’s the battle we’ve been saved from. And we’re not engaged in combat because of honor, but because of pride and disbelief.

Before Jesus breathed his final breath, he cried out “It is finished.” Maybe some within the sound of his voice thought he was talking about his own life, or maybe they thought he was talking about the future of his following … but the truth is that he was talking about the power of sin and death. Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. (John 19:31) And at that moment death was swallowed in victory; the cost of our freedom was paid in full.

Like the pamphlets that arrived on that tiny Philippine island, we have heard about our liberation — but we refuse to believe it. It’s too good to be true. We stubbornly stay in the fight, and we lose battle after battle — the same battles he has already won.

It is finished, he said. Sin. Death. Guilt. Regret. Sin. Despair. Isolation. And did I mention sin? These are all swallowed up in the victory of the cross and his powerful resurrection.

His work is finished, he has rested. And he is inviting us now to rest in him.