Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

• 2 Corinthians 5:17

Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation.

• Galatians 6:15

From the moment I first met my wife until her last breath, she helped other people.

Ever since she passed away, people have come to me and told me how her smile and positive attitude in times of trouble had convinced them that this Christianity thing was real.  My wife always had that smile.  She always thought of others before she considered her own needs.

But if the truth were told, she truthfully came to the Lord a few months before she turned fifty years old.  So, the old creation was smiling and loving and serving others just like the new creation.

With most people, there is a marked difference between the old and the new.  With my wife’s behavior, that did not change, at least on the surface.

My wife was brought up by a Eurasian mother, steeped in the SE Asia culture.  The eldest daughter served the rest of the family.  My wife had an older brother, then three younger brothers, but the other four sisters were the last in line in the family.  The boys mostly got a free ride, and my wife did the laundry, house cleaning, cooking, etc.  The sister who was next in line joked that she finished high school early, married her boyfriend, and went with him overseas in the military, just to escape being handed my wife’s chores when my wife joined the Air Force.  My wife admitted part of her desire to join the military was to escape the chores, not knowing that the military would be in some ways worse.

But while some women are asked at a young age to be a servant of others, my wife found enjoyment in doing it.  It became natural.

So, if my wife’s enjoyment was in serving others, how could the new creation be different than the old?

It was in my wife’s attitude toward everything more than anything else.  She served to glorify God and enjoy Him forever instead of doing what she was taught to be her duty.

And when she could, she would glorify God.  That came naturally in the new creation that was my wife.  So, again, the new was like the old in that she did what came naturally.  It is just that the focus of that natural response was now Jesus.

Another factor in her upbringing was that her family was Catholic.  When she met me, she was questioning her Catholicism.  In a way, the Galatians Scripture above applies.  She had been dutiful in doing the Catholic thing (ceremonies, rules, etc.) but she found no truth in it.  It wasn’t until about twenty-five years of going to a Presbyterian church when she had a vision that changed her life.  She suddenly knew this Jesus thing was real and she had to serve Him with all her strength.  So, the circumcision is just a symbol here.  It is whatever the ceremonial “religious” thing is that is not important, it is the condition of the heart.  Who are you really glorifying?

My wife had a much greater impact on others than she ever knew.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.