Here are the past week's posts from Lynelle Garrison's journey...

Monday, June 2, 2008

So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.

Romans 5:11 (NLT)

Last week Pastor Jeff talked to us about becoming a “self-feeder” on the Word of God. (Who can forget the cereal video?) As we read the Bible, we learn about God. The next step is to begin responding to what we have learned. This process of hearing and then doing is how we grow as believers. Next, Jeff gave us five ways to put the Word into action:

• If it is a truth, believe it.
• If it is a promise, claim it.
• If it is a command or instruction, follow it.
• If it is a sin, avoid it.
• If it is a warning, heed it.

So, what does this process of connecting with God through his word look like in daily life? For me, it looks like a normal relationship, similar to some of my other relationships. Let me explain what I mean.

Several years ago, there was a lot of hype for young parents over quality time versus quantity time. The general idea was that you didn’t need to spend large amounts of time with your kids as long as the time you did spend with them was quality time. I understood what the experts were trying to say, but I just couldn’t buy into it. My experience told me that quality time didn’t occur naturally. I could not artificially manufacture it. Quality time, those precious, priceless, intimate moments with my kids, happened quite unexpectedly during the ordinary, quantity time we shared.

The same thing rang true for my marriage. I found that the glorious moments of love, romance, and sweet companionship that I craved were the result of many common and everyday conversations. The simple, seemingly mundane investments yielded big results. Once I figured this out, I employed a simple technique for making sure I was connecting with my husband, Ken. I added him to my daily to-do list. In fact, I put him at the top. It was a reminder to me to check in with him every day – to express my love and gratitude to him in some way or to do something for him that would convey my commitment to us.

I hesitated to use this example because we’ve been so careful at Real Life Church to emphasize that Christianity is about a relationship with God – not something to put on your to-do list! But may I just suggest, that if God never makes your list, there is no relationship. We have to do God. And it is just like any other personal relationship – lots of common, everyday conversations which lead to moments of perfect, intimate connection.

So, open your Bible today and check in with God. Read one or two verses or keep reading until He speaks! Just know that today will most likely be an ordinary day with God. The heavens probably won’t open up, revealing magnificent visions of divine glory and revelations of supreme wisdom. (Although it could happen.) But, I bet you can find a simple truth to believe in or a promise to claim. And if you come back tomorrow, you might discover a command to follow, or some temptation right in front of you that He’d like to help you avoid. The outcome of your small, ordinary investments into God will be an extraordinary relationship with the best friend you’ll ever know.

Monday, May 26, 2008

God’s...gracious Word can make you into what he wants you to be and give you everything you could possibly want.

Acts 20:32 The Message

My oldest son, Kenny, left for Marine Corps Basic Training in March. I have been writing him a couple of letters a week…and waiting for one to arrive from him.

Waiting.
Patiently waiting.
Okay, not so patiently.

He has apparently sent his lovely fiancé dozens of letters and I get that. Love and romance and all. I’m happy for her. Really! That’s how it should be. But, come on Kid! Throw your mother a bone!

Then it came. His letter finally arrived early this week. Two whole pages - front and back. He began by confessing to a slight case of homesickness and then suddenly opened up; his thoughts and feelings spilling out all over the Marine-issued stationary. You’d have to know my son to know how special that was for me. Let’s just say, he is a man of very few words.

Since opening his letter, I have carried it with me everywhere I go. I’ve read it at least twenty times and cried through most readings. This evening my husband came home from work to find me sitting cross-legged on the couch, tears streaming down my face, with Kenny’s letter clutched to my chest. “Are you still reading that letter?” he asked. Of course I am. This letter represents the connection I feel to my child. I love my letter!

Then I realized I feel the same way about the Word of God. As I read it, I know God better. I feel more and more connected to Him. His thoughts and feelings spill out over the pages, communicating everything He has for me – which is mostly love. Jesus said, “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life” (John 6:63). God’s letter to me is different from every other letter in the world. It is living and active. I go to the Word with great anticipation. With every reading I discover something new. I go to learn and to be transformed. I go to be blessed and to become a blessing.

Thoughts along the way...

Where are you in your journey with the Word of God? (Wherever you are is a great place to start!)

How does Scripture compare to a letter you’ve received?

Give an example of how reading Scripture has helped you to know God better.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

I remember them piled up on oak cabinets in the living room – shelf after shelf of family Bibles. Tissue-thin pages cradled in soft leather; slick hardbacks embellished with modern sketches and colorful graphs; dingy paperbacks of cheap, gray newsprint. I think my parents owned every translation of the Bible available in 1975 - King James, New American, Revised, New International, New Living, and so on. The creative assortment of titles and editions was impressive and a little confusing. There was The Holy Bible; Good News; Good News for Modern Man; Good News for Students; The Women’s Study Bible; The Contemporary Bible; The Believer’s Bible… You get the picture. But the strange thing was, nobody ever read them. Those stacks of Bibles reminded me of Great Grandma’s china, an ancient and sacred collection that we all admired but never used.

All that changed when I was in the fourth grade. My mother enrolled in an intensive Bible study course at our church. For two years, she drove from Vancouver to downtown Portland every Thursday night to attend a three-hour class. The Bibles came down from our bookshelves. I’d come home from school in the afternoon to find the kitchen counters littered with her study guides, maps, charts, and notebooks. She would be sitting at the table reading “the Word.”

My mom gained a ton of knowledge during that time. Even today, she is the first person I call with questions about history and doctrine, but more important than the information she absorbed were the changes she began to experience in her everyday living. She changed as a mother to her children. She changed as a wife to my dad. She changed as a daughter, as a sister, as a neighbor, as a friend. It was unexpected and gradual, but her transformation was real, and deep, and beautiful.

I continued to learn Bible stories and songs about Jesus in Children’s Church. The truth that God loved me grew down deep in my heart like a healthy vine, but I was almost seventeen years old before I picked up the Bible for myself. Like so many other teenagers, I felt confused and depressed and so I followed my mother’s example of turning to the Bible without really understanding how or why. What a surprise! It was like searching for the perfect card and then finding one written just for you. The words seemed God-breathed, penetrating my mind and heart.

Twenty-five years later God is still speaking to me and changing me through the Scripture. There are things about God and the Bible that I do not fully understand; mysteries still to be revealed. And yet, the more I uncover, the more confident I am in the character of God and in the absolute truth and power of his Word.

All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.

2 Timothy 3:16,17 NLT

Paul wrote these verses in a letter to his young disciple, Timothy. With these words, he lays out some foundational truths about the Bible that are absolutely vital. The first truth is that God has inspired all Scripture. Every part of it has been divinely influenced and communicated by Him – even the parts we don’t fully comprehend or appreciate. For years I have written questions I have about the Word in the margins of my Bible. It is always a great thrill when God unlocks the answer to one of those questions and I discover all over again how perfectly the whole Bible fits together.

The second truth Paul states is that all Scripture is useful in teaching us what is true. One translation says that all Scripture is profitable. I like that. Everybody wants to profit; to receive help or some kind of advantage that will yield something great. The Bible is unique in its ability to expose what is wrong in my life and to teach me what is right and beneficial. We are ultimately transformed by the truth of God’s Word. Just ask my mother.

Thoughts along the way...

What do you do when the Bible doesn't make sense?

What is God saying to you through the Bible readings this week? How do you plan on applying what you've read?

Questions about what you're reading? email us: office@seekreallife.com