Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

• 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

“If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”

• John 14:15-21

The Boilerplate

My wife took a Bible Study in 2009.  She had become a Christian in 2000, and about the time that she took this class during the week at night, she developed night blindness, or at least the start of it.  I would drive her to a friend’s house, and then the friend would drive her home afterwards.  The focus on the Bible Study was weight loss from a biblical perspective.  I don’t know if any weight was lost by anyone in the Bible Study, but a few members of that group became very good friends.

My wife passed away in March and I found her study guide as I was cleaning up.  I actually found two study guides.  The other study guide was from a Bible study long before committing herself to Jesus.  Her answers were usually copying Scripture or turning the Scripture into her own words.  This Bible Study in 2009 showed signs of how God was working in her life.  It showed Christian growth.

So, instead of writing about a topic at random, I decided to write on the topics in the Study Guide, but instead of using the words of the Study Guide, I thought I would fashion the answers of her questions into a thread to discuss the topic.  And I will not use any comment about other members of the group study (few, and usually prayer requests).  That would be confidential.  Thus, I am writing about these topics “with a little help” from my wife’s answers to study guide questions.

“The Holy Spirit resides in us when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  Do you want the Holy Spirit to live in a messy house?”

• My wife’s ideas about the first Scripture above

And the first Scripture, the one from 1 Corinthians, states that we are bought at a price.  What was that price?

“The death of God’s son, Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ paid it.”

• My wife’s continued ideas about the first Scripture above

And how do we help keep our bodies as a temple?

“By making better choices.”

• My wife’s continued ideas about the first Scripture above

But then regarding the second Scripture, specifically the last verse, how do we show our love for Jesus?

“Our obedience proves that we love God and Jesus.  And practice makes perfect – continual sanctification – the more we know Him, the closer we become like Him.  ‘If you love me, you will obey what I command’ (John 14:15). We have to know Jesus and truly love Him to understand Him and what He wants of us.”

• My wife’s ideas about the second Scripture above

As for the first Scripture, the context is sexual immorality, but it works well in this topic of controlling what we eat and how we maintain our weight.  And as for this last comment by my wife, she stayed true to that, maybe a little cheating with her eating, until she passed away.  She worked hard at being more like Jesus.  She was already a nice person, but she wanted to glorify God in everything.  It became the mantra for her until her health started falling apart, especially the mental side effects, unable to concentrate.  But up until that point, she even admitted that she became a true Christian late ands she was making up for lost time.

But how do you compare instant gratification in this world compared to the Holy Spirit working within our lives?

“Jesus asks God the Father to give us the Holy Spirit to help us when we get into trouble.  ‘Instant’ lasts only seconds, minutes, hours, but forever lasts an eternity, never leaving us.”

• My wife’s ideas on eternity

And what is the truth?  People today think there is no truth.  They have looked and found none.  But have they excluded One Truth in their search?

“The Holy Spirit – The Spirit of Truth – The world takes no notice of the Spirit because they don’t know Jesus Christ.  We know the truth.  [The Holy] Spirit is characterized by it and sent to us by God.

“Accept Jesus as your Savior and through Him you will get eternal salvation.”

• My wife’s inner thoughts

This week, I let her do most of the talking.  I hope you don’t mind.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory