Every time I create an invitation to a party, I flashback to grade school when one of my teachers taught us about writing a news story. The fundamentals of Who, What, Why, Where, When and How.
Last time I read the story of Cain, I thought if I were to write a book entitled Life Outside the Garden, Chapter One would be “God’s Invitation to Restored Relationship”. These fundamental questions reminded me of God’s continuing invitation to have a personal relationship with each one of us. The introduction of my book would be the eviction from The Garden and most likely every chapter would be “God’s Invitation to Restored Relationship”. The humans in the Bible insisted on following their stubborn, independent hearts rather than becoming dependent on God’s stubborn love for us.
As I read the narrative in Genesis 4, God asks Cain three questions.
Question 1 - Why?
God asks Cain, “Why are you angry?” He was warning Cain, before the sin, not to let his anger control his heart and actions. God even gave him the advice of “if you do right...”
Question 2 - Where?
After the murder of Abel, God asks “Where is your brother?” God knows exactly where Abel is but he is giving Cain an opportunity for relief, to come clean, to confess.
Question 3 - What?
When that didn’t work, God confronted Cain with, “What have you done?” God let Cain know He knew what he’d done but again gave Cain an opportunity to confess.
Here is one of the earliest intimate “peeks” into a personal relationship with God and I see God reaching out and pursuing Cain.
* God loved Cain and desired a relationship with him so much He took the time to ask Cain three questions. God reached out to Cain and, likewise, to me to warn me to Do Right.
* Even when Cain didn’t take God’s advice and sinned, and sinned Big Time! God reached out to Cain again.
* When Cain still wouldn’t confess, God gave him a third opportunity and confronted Cain with “What have you done?” God reached out in spite of Cain’s stubbornness and sin.
I’d like to learn from Cain’s mistakes. Here’s the beginning of what I’d like to put into action in my life:
- Do not let sin master your heart and actions. Do what is right, all the time.
- God loves me, even after the sin. Do what is right and confess the sin to Him.
- God reaches out to me, in spite of my stubborn self and my sin. He will confront me with my sin. Do what is right and confess before I get to God’s third question.
Choosing to do what is right is choosing to deepen my relationship with God.
God invites us to the greatest Good News story of all time with those same fundamental questions. Jesus delivered that Good News to us in a tangible message. Jesus showed us that we need a Savior.
Why? We are human and will fail.
Where? He paid the price for our failures by giving His Life on the cross.
What? We can have a personal relationship with God. We can have relief from the daily failure of life and experience the greatest love and acceptance to fill our void.
So we need to:
Acknowledge that we need a Savior
Believe that Jesus alone is the Savior and
Confess our sins to begin and continue our personal relationship with God.
God asked Cain three questions to show His love for Cain. Jesus loved Peter enough to ask him three questions (“Do you love me?” John 21). Do you hear God asking?
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
The Purpose
Finally! It was a beautiful Spring day and I was off on my daily walk. After the May snowstorm, Spring was finally here!
This morning after I read Psalm 138:8, I had been meditating on purpose. Most would think that my daily walk has the purpose of maintaining my health. Some might think I enjoy it. (Not really, I’d skip in a heartbeat but the beating of my heart is important so on I walk!)
"The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me..."
Today the purpose of my walk was to remind me of God’s faithfulness. Every morning the sun comes up and today it was a beautiful sunrise!
Psalm 138:8 tells me that God has a purpose for me. People may think my purpose is wife, mother, legal assistant and/or pastor’s wife. Yet God has a purpose for me and I think it’s much more than all of these.
We each search for purpose, maybe today we call it validation or approval. We seek to be good parents, employees, friends, siblings or children. This verse tells me that our purpose, validation and approval has been given by God. What a comfort and a challenge! God loves me so much that He has a purpose for me, little me. So what is that purpose? To live the life and the purpose He has given me to the best of my ability to bring honor to God. As I live this life, with this goal, I receive validation, approval and happiness.
"...Your love, Lord, endures forever..."
There may be pressure to live up to God’s purpose but the rest of this verse reminds me, as the sunrise this morning, that God’s love, for me, endures forever. God loves me through my meandering life, my stumblings to find His love and purpose, and my failures as a human being. God’s love, for me, for you, is forever.
"...Don’t abandon the works of your hands."
The end of this verse reminds me of the benefit to me of prayer. Tell God what you need and want. I know He already knows but I need the assurance of knowing He knows. So I need to mention it to Him.
So again today, I am receiving God’s unfailing love and belief in His purpose for my life. Soon, one of my earthly purposes will end (pastor’s wife as my husband is to retire). I look forward to the adventure and discovery of a new earthly purpose that will be a part of God’s purpose for me –to be one that God loves.
God has purpose for me.
God loves me.
God, stay with me.
Friday, May 24, 2013
Follow Your Nose
The aroma snapped my head around to find the origin. It was definitely lilac. Hurray! Spring had arrived. The smell reminded me of Spring evenings when my son was young as the aroma from our Korean Lilac bush drifted through the back door.
Smell has a powerful effect on our memories and emotions. The smell of a fresh box of crayons makes me think of new beginnings. Guess the first day of school was a positive experience in my childhood.
“Thanks be to God...”
I’ve been thinking about what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 2:14-15. There is a “fragrance” in knowing God. It’s a pleasant experience and it reaches into our emotions. Verse 14 reminds me that it’s a triumphant experience because God leads me and because there are many others in procession with me.
...spread the fragrance of knowing Him...
There is also a challenge in these two verses. The challenge to diffuse God’s saving “fragrance” to those arround us. There will be two reactions to our “fragrance.”
We should remind those around us of God’s justice and God’s salvation. In a world of chaos, where too often evil seems to triumph, God is the final administrator of justice. Some will not receive His authority so to them we don’t smell fragrant. Rather we smell like death, as the scripture says.
To fellow believers, we have the familiar fragrance of relationship with God. We are joined in that triumphant procession with God leading us.
How do I smell?
I pause to ask myself, does my life, as it is lived before others, trigger emotion and memory for God?
When you open the refrigerator and ask what is that smell? You hunt! You keep emptying containers and drawers until you find the source of that bad odor!
Maybe as Christians, we should be the triggers to spark the hunt for God, the fragrance of knowing Him.
Smell has a historical role of survival. We smell food when we are hungry. We smell fire and know there is danger.
Again, this morning I was alerted to the smell of lilacs. It had rained. Sometimes rain accentuates the aromas. Perhaps it’s a matter of the rain clearing away distracting smells to allow the fragrance to dominate.
Sometimes, life’s circumstances (the rains) may accentuate God’s fragrance and our need to know Him more. That is true survival, to live life with God leading the procession in the company of our fragrant friends. So when life’s circumstances happen, “follow your nose” to find God. He and other believers are saving your place in the procession!
S eek to bring God honor
M ake your witness a priority
E liminate distractions from your relationship with God
L ive life the way God intends
L et the world know of this saving “fragrance”.
Smell has a powerful effect on our memories and emotions. The smell of a fresh box of crayons makes me think of new beginnings. Guess the first day of school was a positive experience in my childhood.
“Thanks be to God...”
I’ve been thinking about what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 2:14-15. There is a “fragrance” in knowing God. It’s a pleasant experience and it reaches into our emotions. Verse 14 reminds me that it’s a triumphant experience because God leads me and because there are many others in procession with me.
...spread the fragrance of knowing Him...
There is also a challenge in these two verses. The challenge to diffuse God’s saving “fragrance” to those arround us. There will be two reactions to our “fragrance.”
We should remind those around us of God’s justice and God’s salvation. In a world of chaos, where too often evil seems to triumph, God is the final administrator of justice. Some will not receive His authority so to them we don’t smell fragrant. Rather we smell like death, as the scripture says.
To fellow believers, we have the familiar fragrance of relationship with God. We are joined in that triumphant procession with God leading us.
How do I smell?
I pause to ask myself, does my life, as it is lived before others, trigger emotion and memory for God?
When you open the refrigerator and ask what is that smell? You hunt! You keep emptying containers and drawers until you find the source of that bad odor!
Maybe as Christians, we should be the triggers to spark the hunt for God, the fragrance of knowing Him.
Smell has a historical role of survival. We smell food when we are hungry. We smell fire and know there is danger.
Again, this morning I was alerted to the smell of lilacs. It had rained. Sometimes rain accentuates the aromas. Perhaps it’s a matter of the rain clearing away distracting smells to allow the fragrance to dominate.
Sometimes, life’s circumstances (the rains) may accentuate God’s fragrance and our need to know Him more. That is true survival, to live life with God leading the procession in the company of our fragrant friends. So when life’s circumstances happen, “follow your nose” to find God. He and other believers are saving your place in the procession!
S eek to bring God honor
M ake your witness a priority
E liminate distractions from your relationship with God
L ive life the way God intends
L et the world know of this saving “fragrance”.
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Another Beginning
Another Beginning with Jan Sipe
Welcome to my next adventure! I’ve decided to enter the world of blogging. I’ll relate a few of my reasons after a brief introduction.
I’m Jan, a well seasoned woman building a relationship with God, married to my best friend who has made me a better person and juggler of multiple roles. My roles have included but surely are not limited to: wife, mother, legal assistant, pastor’s wife, bible study teacher, organizer, hostess, and collector of craft projects!
For one of the first times in my life, I am facing a major life change, my husband is retiring, and yet, I’m not afraid or worried about this next season of our lives. I come from a long line of genuine worriers. I’ve spent my life explaining this to God and begging to be delivered from the genetic disposition for worry. Soon, several of my roles and part of my community will change. Yet I’m really looking forward to the future, even if it is still unformed and partly uncertain. So maybe in this one occasion, I’m letting go and letting God! Perhaps there will be more on that in a future post.
Bucket list
I’ll admit that writing is on my bucket list. I’m at the age (and I’ve seen my 39th birthday many times) that I need to get going on that list to complete it before I go Home! My mother always thought I should be a writer. I don’t remember why. I hope I was not prone to tell tall tales to her. I hope she saw within me a talent but maybe she aspired to writing and passed it on to her offspring.
Legacy
Since one of my recent 39th birthdays I’ve been evaluating my legacy. I’ve thought about putting tags of explanation on my precious possessions so they don’t end up in the dump when I go Home. I’ve found myself asking my son when he’s visiting, “Anything you want to take home with you?” Or “Here’s where you find _____________. ( fill in the blank with any number of important documents or valuable items).
How I live my life and other people’s observation of my life-living has been one of my guiding principles. It’s not a vain, “what will people think of me?” but rather “what will people think of God because of me?” Yikes, that puts the fear in you when you really want to lose it with the grocery store clerk or the irritating client. Life in a “fish bowl” as a pastor’s wife has taught me that my life is my testimony and hence reflects on God, who He is and what He does. Fortunately God is forgiving when I too often fail. But I’m going to keep trying.
Discipline
Since I became a believer over 30 years ago (getting a hint on how many 39's that is?) I have been encouraged and encouraged others to have a personal Bible study time on a daily basis. I’ve done a variety of methods. Most recently, I’ve been doing my version of the three questions. I highly recommend it. Now I want to “change it up” and build on those years worth of notes.
Another beginning
As a few of my roles end and my community of believers change, I’m looking for new roles to fill the vacancies and a new network of friends and comrades. Why not be 21st century and look to the internet?
Honor God
Last but not least, I want to give God glory and honor for anything and everything that I have and will have, do and have done, have given and been given. It’s an awesome responsibility but since God has never left me I think it’s worth my effort. Again, thanks, God, for forgiving my failures.
Thanks for reading Post 1 and I hope you’ll check in again. I’ll try to be regular. I hope to discover why I’m so non-worried about our next adventure. Maybe you’ll discover it too.
Welcome to my next adventure! I’ve decided to enter the world of blogging. I’ll relate a few of my reasons after a brief introduction.
I’m Jan, a well seasoned woman building a relationship with God, married to my best friend who has made me a better person and juggler of multiple roles. My roles have included but surely are not limited to: wife, mother, legal assistant, pastor’s wife, bible study teacher, organizer, hostess, and collector of craft projects!
For one of the first times in my life, I am facing a major life change, my husband is retiring, and yet, I’m not afraid or worried about this next season of our lives. I come from a long line of genuine worriers. I’ve spent my life explaining this to God and begging to be delivered from the genetic disposition for worry. Soon, several of my roles and part of my community will change. Yet I’m really looking forward to the future, even if it is still unformed and partly uncertain. So maybe in this one occasion, I’m letting go and letting God! Perhaps there will be more on that in a future post.
Bucket list
I’ll admit that writing is on my bucket list. I’m at the age (and I’ve seen my 39th birthday many times) that I need to get going on that list to complete it before I go Home! My mother always thought I should be a writer. I don’t remember why. I hope I was not prone to tell tall tales to her. I hope she saw within me a talent but maybe she aspired to writing and passed it on to her offspring.
Legacy
Since one of my recent 39th birthdays I’ve been evaluating my legacy. I’ve thought about putting tags of explanation on my precious possessions so they don’t end up in the dump when I go Home. I’ve found myself asking my son when he’s visiting, “Anything you want to take home with you?” Or “Here’s where you find _____________. ( fill in the blank with any number of important documents or valuable items).
How I live my life and other people’s observation of my life-living has been one of my guiding principles. It’s not a vain, “what will people think of me?” but rather “what will people think of God because of me?” Yikes, that puts the fear in you when you really want to lose it with the grocery store clerk or the irritating client. Life in a “fish bowl” as a pastor’s wife has taught me that my life is my testimony and hence reflects on God, who He is and what He does. Fortunately God is forgiving when I too often fail. But I’m going to keep trying.
Discipline
Since I became a believer over 30 years ago (getting a hint on how many 39's that is?) I have been encouraged and encouraged others to have a personal Bible study time on a daily basis. I’ve done a variety of methods. Most recently, I’ve been doing my version of the three questions. I highly recommend it. Now I want to “change it up” and build on those years worth of notes.
Another beginning
As a few of my roles end and my community of believers change, I’m looking for new roles to fill the vacancies and a new network of friends and comrades. Why not be 21st century and look to the internet?
Honor God
Last but not least, I want to give God glory and honor for anything and everything that I have and will have, do and have done, have given and been given. It’s an awesome responsibility but since God has never left me I think it’s worth my effort. Again, thanks, God, for forgiving my failures.
Thanks for reading Post 1 and I hope you’ll check in again. I’ll try to be regular. I hope to discover why I’m so non-worried about our next adventure. Maybe you’ll discover it too.
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