It's a little hazy

One of my biggest issues with being a counselor is the constant feeling by those in my real life (as in not my job) that I know all the answers or that I’m the best person to talk to in any given difficult situation. I know my profession is not the only one that has a hinky boundary line in people’s heads. However, people don’t expect the cashier at the grocery store to be constantly adding up what items cost in their normal life nor do they expect the administrative assistant to organize their calendar and make phone calls for them. However, I am constantly asked for advice and expected to address anyone in crisis. It doesn't help that people “refer” their friends and loved ones to come talk to me. I imagine that conversation involves the phrase, “You should talk to Denise because she’s a counselor.”

Sitting in my office, I have a switch I turn on in my head. It is my Counselor Switch. When I leave said office, I turn that switch off. It’s very similar to the mechanic who washes their hands after a long day of fixing cars who then walks into their house and hugs and kisses his wife. He is no longer in the let’s-fix-this-car mode. He’s in the this-is-my-family mode.

I struggle because the way I talk to my clients is vastly different than the way I talk to my friends. When I have a friend struggling, I may not be the best person for them to talk to but at that point I am not a counselor. I am simply a friend. An ill-equipped friend at that.

Like I said, I know I’m not the only profession that deals with this hazy boundary. His Royal Nerdness, my husband, gets asked computer questions constantly. I’m sure my nurse practitioner friend gets asked medical questions all the time. Because of my own experience with boundary crossing, I refuse to ask my friend any medical questions. The aforementioned mechanic probably gets tons of friends and acquaintances asking him about car issues.

When I’m not at work or in a counseling room, and I have a friend or acquaintance that wants some counsel, I have to take a moment and turn my switch back on. It’s not as easy as just flipping a switch. Turning that switch on and leaving it on for a while takes energy just like any light fixture that you turn on. It’s draining.

I can only imagine how Jesus felt. If I, as a counselor, am worn out sometimes by the blurred boundaries, then it must stand to reason that The Messiah had to get a bit worn. However, The Messiah is not really a role that one switches on and off.

I still giggle at the idea of Jesus trying to get some sleep and the disciples keep coming up to Him asking Him to turn their water into something more fortifying. 

Living Word vs. Written Word

I’ve always been intrigued by the concept of the “Living Word of God.” I’ve also heard the Bible referred to as the “Written Word of God.” These are both titles that I have no contestation with. However, bells go off in my head directing my attention to John 1:1. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” My little footnote in my trusty Bible said that the title, The Word, was a title for Jesus as the communication and the revealer of God the Father.

Hold up. Isn’t that what we say the Bible is? Haven’t we heard since childhood Sunday School and V.B.S. that the Bible is God speaking to us about Himself?

So here is the big question that I find myself asking: What is “The Word” that is referred to in John 1:1, Jesus or the Bible?

What about both? What if Jesus as human and the written Word of God are two manifestations of the same thing? Both have been given the title of Word. Both have been given the description as the Living Word. This can’t be coincidence or, *gasp*, a mistake.

When I was discussing this concept with one of the smartest people I know, his response was, “Be careful, Denise. What you are describing sounds a lot like you are trying to make a 4^th member of the Trinity.” Let me see if I can put my thoughts into words.

We know that Jesus as a human was not all there was/is to Jesus. There is so much more from the creation of the world (see John 1:3) to reigning forever with the Father (see Revelation 11:15). If Jesus is so much more than we could ever imagine and if He had a hand in all of creation, why couldn’t a part of Him also be the message to all generations about Him and the Father, and the Holy Spirit, for that matter?

I would ask that anyone reading this would keep in mind that I am not concretely saying that Jesus is the Bible. I’m raising an interesting concept that could change the way we look and incorporate the Bible into our daily lives. If (and that’s a BIG if) a part of Jesus is the Bible, then how would that change your relationship to the pink Precious Moments book that you were given as a kid, or the leather-bound book with your name engraved on the front, or the free paperback New Testament that you were given when you went to a fair, or the book put in your hotel nightstand by the Gideons? Would it become more than just a book, would it truly be a living volume for you to live by? Would you start looking at your Bible as a friend to spend time with and to defend and stand up for?

The concept of a living, breathing Word of God is a precious one to me. It helps me to understand that reading the Bible is not just a one-way conversation with some dusty old men from way back. Nor is it a one-way conversation with the Father. Reading the Word is a full conversation in every sense and provides us with the opportunity to listen and talk back to all parts of God.

It is a true interaction with the living God.