I grew up in Canada watching a television ad for American Express traveller’s cheques whose slogan was, “Don’t leave home without it.” I suppose American Express reckoned that not having their traveller’s cheques in your possession when you left home would set you up for challenges - ones that could have been prevented had you left home with them.
At the beginning of 2012, knowing that I would be phasing out of pastoring a church, I asked the Lord what I should be focussing on next. He made it clear that I was to be proactive in contributing to, “Eradicating Bible poverty and increasing Bible engagement.” He was basically saying that I could go “further with fewer” by having them “linger a little longer” in His Word. Thus, I started Bible Studies with groups of young ladies. It was my way of creating an environment in which they could engage with the Word of God. I have been facilitating studies in the Word ever since, with both young women and young men. Like the parable of the sower and the seed, I have seen a few who hear, receive the Word and understand it, producing fruit. I would like to believe that those few have lived by the slogan “Don’t leave home without it.”
Unfortunately, too many of us followers of Christ are leaving home without the Word. As I imperfectly progress in my journey with Jesus I am realizing more and more that the Word is not an “it” but a “Who.” “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…” is what John says. So when we are spending time in the Word, we are spending time with the Word, who is Jesus. Too many times throughout my Christian life I have read the Word dutifully, making sure I can tick off that I did the Bible reading for that day; definitely not lingering a little longer, but rather doing it as quick as possible so I could get on with the more pressing matters of the day. My time in the Word became more functional than relational. I wasn’t really engaging with the “Who” of the Word, nor was I encountering Him on a deep personal level.
Perhaps because I am now a spiritual mother to many young adults I am learning to see from another perspective. I endeavour to nurture an open, involved relationship with them, sharing my heart and happenings in an effort to model the meaning of relationship. In the past, I would have easily served a role, a function and would have left home without my heart. Consequentially, this would have been viewed as fulfilling a role or doing a job. I well remember my first spiritual daughter saying that she felt I was treating her like a project and not a person. What a wake-up call!
Now, as I spend time with the “Who” of the Word and nurture a relationship with Him, I am allowing that relationship to spill over into others. I must admit when I make every effort to value these relationships, I am hurt when I find out about girl-guy relationships, or that they are getting married, or that they’ve had a baby, through social media or someone else. I am getting a small taste of how God must feel when we carry on with life without including Him. And then we ask Him to bless whatever we’ve decided to do. This only highlights to Him that we are more interested in His functionality, than we are in nurturing and maintaining a relationship with Him.
What I so love and appreciate about Jesus, whose nature is in us, is the fact that He didn’t leave home without the “Who” - His relationship with the Father and the Holy Spirit. He spent time with the Father before He made a move because He valued that relationship. Likewise, He spent time with His disciples explaining to them what was happening and involving them in the process because He valued them. Relationship, not function, was what He modelled, and what He desired, and still desires, to have with us – not being left at home as we carry on with our lives.
Let’s take heed that we “Don’t leave home without Him!”
