Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.

• Proverbs 16:3

“Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”
Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.

• Mark 10:20-22

“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

• Mark 12:29-31

“When somebody loves you
It’s no good unless he loves you
All the way
Happy to be near you
When you need someone to cheer you
All the way

[Verse 2]
Taller than the tallest tree is
That’s how it’s got to feel
Deeper than the deep blue sea is
That’s how deep it goes if it’s real

[Verse 3]
When somebody needs you
It’s no good unless he needs you
All the way
Through the good or lean years
And for all the in-between years
Come what may

[Verse 4]
Who knows where the road will lead us
Only a fool would say
But if you let me love you
It’s for sure I’m gonna love you
All the way
All the way

[Outro]
So if you let me love you
It’s for sure I’m gonna love you
All the way
All the way.”

• Sammy Cahn (Jimmy van Heusen, music), All the Way

This is one of those love songs that kicks you in the gut.  But it makes a perfect explanation of what loving God is all about.

We are new creations when God comes into our heart.  There is no way we would want to go back to what we were before.

It is either all the way or it is not at all.

How did I learn this?  By saying the salvation prayer hundreds of times.  Unless I really meant what I was saying, as if my life depended upon it – and it did and does – the words are empty.  I wrote recently about calling on the name of the Lord, the latest “with a little help”.  When we say, “Jesus is my Lord and Savior” do we know what those words mean?  And do we trust in that statement with life or death fervor?

Jesus wants to have a relationship with us.  In the End, the church will be the bride of Christ.  He wants total commitment.

But maybe the world has changed and does not care about lifelong commitments.

The divorce rate is about 50%.  Will our marriage last? Flip a coin.

I have known people who got married on Friday night.  They woke up Saturday morning next to a person that they hardly knew.  They got an annulment on Monday.  It would have been quicker, but the courts were closed over the weekend.

Once you have been divorced a couple of times, does it get easier to do it again?  Do you ever get numb?

I was married to my wife for 48 years.  Were all those years wonderful?  Not hardly.  But as we endured each set back, we realized that our love for each other was taller than the tallest tree is.  We learned our love was deeper than the deepest ocean is.

And if we need someone, that total commitment love will be right there.

Right there until …

My wife has been gone for two years.  It still hurts, but I am getting accustomed to being by myself – just me and God.

But in those past fifty years (48 years of marriage and two years since my wife passed away), God has been beside me all along.  If you need someone, He will always be there.

Do you want to know love that passes understanding?  Then you need to love…

All the Way.

God already loves us all the way. Jesus died on the cross, and He would have if you were the only one who needed saving.

Here is Frank Sinatra singing All the Way.

And when we reach the last verse of the song.  God’s love for us will be all the way.  Will we love God as the greatest commandment says, with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength?

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.