Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

• John 1:14

Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

• Matthew 4:7

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.

• John 3:16-17

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”

• Romans 8:31-32

So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.

• 1 Peter 4:19

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us..

• Romans 5:8

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 14:21

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

• John 13:34-35

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.

Discussion on this topic

I am starting this one with a personal note.  All the Scriptures above, except for the last one, are given as Scriptures for this last week of Bible study in the book.  I am only covering day one of that week, all regarding the last Scripture, from John 13.  What my wife basically did on the initial questions for this topic is to repeat, with minimal paraphrasing, the Scripture rather than put what the Scripture means to her, but before she started the detail study of John 13:34-35, she had the following prayer in the margin.

“Thank you God for loving me unconditionally and accepting me to Your heavenly kingdom.”

• My wife’s prayer after reading several Scriptures about God’s love

She wrote that little prayer about fourteen years before she passed away, but reading it after she had passed caused a lump to appear in my throat.  What she thanked God for then is what she is living eternally now.  It gave me renewed focus to continue writing so that others may know that simple truth. 

But how does God let us know that He loves us?

“By giving unexpected surprises and blessings when I don’t deserve His love and attention.  He is my comfort especially now when I’ve got a house load of people.  I turn to Him more often and ask His help and wisdom to see through my difficulties.”

• My wife’s thoughts about the last Scripture above

I did not make the connection between two events until I read the middle sentence above.  Our son had been laid off from his teaching job in the Mississippi Delta, his first ever teaching job after getting his degree.  He did a good job, but they did not have enough in the budget to retain him.  He had been the music teacher in 2-3 elementary schools, the middle school, and the assistant band director at the high school.

The problem was that he was unable to get a new teaching job because they laid him off just before the school year was about to start and all teaching jobs had been filled.

He and his wife had a one-year-old baby boy.  During the next nine months, he and his family lived in our spare bedroom.  It was cramped.  He and his wife worked at the local grocery store.  My wife suddenly went from two mouths to feed to five mouths to feed.  There was a drastic culture shock between the way his wife had been raised and how we liked things to work in the house.  It was a battle teaching the rules of the house.

But seeing our grandson every day for nine months made all the stress worth it.  And my wife’s prayers for strength and wisdom were granted.  She was the glue that held everyone together.  I was simply the cheese man.  When our grandson heard that I was driving up in the backyard, he would go to the refrigerator and hug it.  I would walk in the back door and go straight for a knife to slice him some cheese.

But how will God continue to show His love once we have left this world?

“By giving me a place in His kingdom with all the other saints – by not feeling any anger and hatred such pure love -”

• My wife’s inner thoughts

I think she messed up her punctuation there, but it may be that she was thinking of something else to add and then got distracted.

But if God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, then His love must be also.  Right?

“He accepted me yesterday, today and tomorrow with all my faults and problems – He always forgives my sins.  [I can remember that] by reminding myself that although things can be difficult, God’s love is perfect and for me to remain faithful.”

• My wife’s inner thoughts

My wife was much more faithful about this time in her journey of faith.  She had just quit working as a deacon in the church.  She could no longer drive at night.  In fact, for the last six months of her term, I drove her to the meetings and then went to an adjacent room to read.  During this Bible study, I drove her to a friend’s house and the friend drove her home afterwards.  But where her day-to-day involvement at the church diminished, her devotion to God multiplied greatly.  She may not have lost the weight that was the focus of the Bible study, but her prayer life grew.  Her focus on glorifying God in everything that she did grew.  While there was a difference that I could see when she accepted Jesus in 2000, this Bible study allowed others to notice there was a change in her.  But then, she was always the nicest person you ever met anyway.

The focus of last week’s lesson was on commitment.  How does that tie in with love?

“Love and commitment is your promise on your word and they go together – A handshake seals the deal – Our written commitment should be our seal of promise.”

• My wife’s inner thoughts

And her final thought on this topic? At least for this week …

“I love Jesus, but I still have a long way to go – I’m joyful in the fact that He accepts me just as I am.”

• My wife’s inner thoughts

He accepts us as we are, but He instills within us a desire to change, to repent, and my wife was already working on that, but after this Bible study, she seemed to intensify that part of her spiritual life, seeing the sin and repenting, focusing her energy on changing her life, relying on God’s strength to do it.

There are eight more pages left, but I do not know if I can turn them all into more posts, but this one is not the last in this series.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory