Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

• Romans 3:23

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

• Romans 6:23

We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
    each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.

• Isaiah 53:6

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
    He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
    he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
    for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk
    through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
    for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.
Surely your goodness and love will follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
    forever.

• Psalm 23

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

• John 3:16-18

A Quote

[John 3:16]: ”You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you. It is easy to say you believe a rope to be strong and sound as long as you are merely using it to cord a box. But suppose you had to hang by that rope over a precipice. Wouldn’t you then first discover how much you really trusted it?…Only a real risk tests the reality of a belief.”

• C. S. Lewis, A Grief Observed

What Do We Know about our Relationship with God?

We are sinners, saved by Grace.

We must not only believe, but trust in God, as if our life depended upon it.  Because it does.

We are like sheep, and we go astray.  We need a shepherd.  We depend upon that shepherd.

What Can We Infer about our Relationship with God?

We could depend upon the inference that we are among God’s elect, but it is not an inference.  We are given gifts from the Holy Spirit.  We have insight, maybe only in part, to read God’s Word and understand where there was no understanding before Jesus came into our hearts.  We have a burden on our hearts to love our fellow man and to not cause harm.

We have a lot of these indications that we are saved.  And once saved, God will never forsake us.

In What Ways Can We Fill in the Gaps about our Relationship with God?

In filling in the gaps, we live our lives, trying our best to not stumble and to glorify God with everything we do.

Since I am still writing this, I still have more of the gap to fill.  My wife’s gap has been filled and she is with Jesus now.  That is what awaits us in this gap called “life”.

What Can We Learn from this Relationship?

We keep putting one foot in front of the other.  We love and respect those around us.  We strengthen our bond with our Heavenly Father each day in prayer, Bible study, and communing with Christian friends.  And we keep our eyes on Jesus.

All the things in the next section apply in part or in whole to our relationship with Jesus.  He is our friend, but He is also God.  He is our brother, but His Father is the Creator of all things.  We will be in awe when we first see Him, but I expect a hug will come soon after.

What Have We Learned thus far?

We have learned to:

• Own our own mistakes and not blame others.
• Be faithful to God, and worship properly, in the proper spirit.
• Go to God in prayer, especially before any major decisions.
• Do not show favoritism among family members, but always go to God.
• Forgiveness is extremely important for none of us are perfect except for God.
• Beyond physical love, there are other expressions of love, and respect is very important.
• A relationship requires maintenance, nurturing, and an acceptance of the roles.
• Be humble and listen to wise advice, and even wait when necessary.
• At times, we must be bold and trust God, and we must obey.
• And to love, love, and love.
• Be trustworthy.  Trust is required.
• And don’t worry.  God has this situation, and He has us in the palm of His hand.
• And remember to forgive others and confess our sins.
• And never go against what God instructs us to do.
• And truly believe that God can show you mercy and accept the mercy offered.  Yet remember that it is indeed mercy.
• Not blindly trust our buddies from our youth as advisors and there may be emotional ties that make their advice sound better than it is.
• Understand that good cannot compromise with evil.
• And sometimes you have to weather the storms, both in the home and in the world of public opinion.

A Closing Prayer

Lord,
We look to You for guidance.  You are my everything.  My every breath depends on Your favor to keep going.  Lord, I stumble and make mistakes, but You are my reason to be here, so that I might glorify Your name.
In Thy Name we pray,
Amen.

I hope you have enjoyed and learned from these lessons.  This concludes the Relationship series.  I do not have a clue as to what will follow.  There will be something in this time slot next week.  If you wish to find lessons in this series that you might have missed, you could search from the home page of this site for “Relationships”.  Each episode starts with Relationships and they should all have the “Relationships” Category selected.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.