5. The Devotional Life - Discipleship and Devotion

Most people think about The Navigators as “those discipleship people” or as “the Scripture memory folks.” For me, however, my earliest memories of The Navigators involve the devotional life.

I met The Navigators as a college student in the early ’70s. I had been strongly influenced by the dramatic conversion of some of my friends in high school and sensed that same “aroma of Christ” from the Navigators I met in my dorm. I wanted to know more about this Jesus they were experiencing because He seemed so much more real and alive than the Jesus I had been taught about growing up. So I started hanging around with these followers of Christ to see what they knew that I didn’t.

One of the first things these Navigators (What in the world was a “Navigator?”) encouraged me to do was to begin spending a few minutes each morning developing a relationship with Jesus by reading the Bible, praying, and thinking about how what I’d read should play itself out in my daily life. They called it a “Quiet Time.” I didn’t care what it was called. To me, it was just early—but I wanted to do it anyway.

One Navigator gave me a little booklet called My Heart Christ’s Home. It wasn’t even published by The Navigators, but I didn’t know that—or care. The author compared areas of his life as a new believer with “rooms” in his heart and described what it was like when Jesus took control of that room.

One of the rooms the author described was the living room. It was the place where he met with Jesus regularly to talk and read the Scriptures. He talked about how—as he grew increasingly busy—he would hurry past the living room’s cracked-open door in a rush to start his busy day. One day, he paused at the door, which was ajar. Glancing inside, he noticed Jesus sitting by the fire with the Bible in His hand. He asked Jesus if He’d been there every morning, waiting for him. Jesus, of course, replied that He had. Then Jesus said something that has stayed with me ever since.

“The trouble is that you have been thinking of [this time] as a means for your own spiritual growth. You have forgotten that this time means something to Me also. Remember, I love you.”

That simple thought—that Jesus loves me and longs to spend time with me—has impacted my devotional life more than all the tools and messages and exhortation from well-meaning believers combined. To this day, I spend time alone with Jesus—not just for what I can get out of it (which is sometimes life-changing), but because I know Jesus wants to spend time with me.

There was one additional thing that had a lifelong impact on my devotional life. The Navigators are, after all, known as “the Scripture memory folks.” As such, they encouraged me to memorize certain verses of Scripture. One of the first passages I learned was, “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:22,23, KJV). The truth of that passage of Scripture—that God’s mercies were new every morning—coupled with the knowledge that Jesus wants to meet with me—have had a huge influence on me. I spend time with Jesus daily—not because I have to, but because every day is a chance to start anew with Him, and because He longs to spend time with me. And that motivation means everything.

Michael Smith worked with The Navigators on college campuses in Germany and was Production Manager of NavPress for many years. Mike owns MikeWordSmith.com and is the editor of The Navigators One-to-One Ministry Review.