Your mentor should not only demonstrate professional excellence and possess skills from which you can learn, but must also be someone who displays character qualities worth imitating. Bernie Madoff was one of the most admired and sought-after brokers on Wall Street. That is, until he ended up in prison for perpetrating a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme that devastated the lives of individuals, companies, and even governments. Numerous actors, athletes, political leaders, and business executives today attempt to deny their position as role models when people are already following them and imitating their conduct. They would like people to distinguish between their personal behaviour and their professional life, but such separation cannot really be made. As you search for role models and mentors, examine their personal lives as thoroughly as their public performance. Your values will be shaped by theirs, so don’t be casual or careless about whom you decide to follow. Paul writes, ‘Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.’ You must be sure that the person in whose footsteps you are following is following in the footsteps of Christ. Why is this so important? Because there will be an audit! Whatever you have spent your life building will be evaluated at the judgement seat of Christ, and you will be rewarded accordingly. ‘Each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss’ (1 Corinthians 3:13-15 NKJV).
