Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

• Philippians 1:21

The Boilerplate

My wife started to write her thoughts down at one point in her life.  Some hints point to 2018 and 2019, after she had her open-heart surgery.  In spite of her trials and the atrial fibrillation (A-Fib) that required her to take blood thinners, this was before her major health decline.

Sometimes, she wrote a thought.  Other times, she wrote a Bible verse, and maybe her idea on that day.  Other times, it is a prayer, but I am going to take one entry at a time and try to write about it

Her comment

“Voice of the Faithful – If we live, we live to the Lord and if we die, we die to the Lord.  So, whether we live or we die, we belong to the Lord.”

• My wife’s next comment in this notebook

The Discussion

This is another note in her notebook where she showed the source.  Voice of the Faithful is a devotional that was edited by Beth Moore.  She asked for feedback from people around the world and got enough devotions to write a year’s worth of them.  They often do not have a theme from month to month.  At least, I saw little continuity, but each devotion was good.  So, I could qualify my wife’s statement by the book title and edited by Beth Moore, but each devotion was written by someone else.

I heard a local pastor in the greater Pittsburgh area express salvation and sanctification in terms of their cost.  He said that salvation is free.  You cannot buy it.  You cannot work your way to it.  It is a gift of God.

But in salvation, God changes our heart.  Our heart is not for ourselves anymore, it is for Him.  Thus, if you truly accepted Jesus at the point when you say you did, you will want to change, to become more like Jesus.  That is the process of sanctification, and sanctification costs us everything.

But note, since our heart has changed, we will want that to happen.

That is what Philippians 1:21 is all about.  And whoever it was that sent the devotion that my wife quoted from was saying it with different words.  Whether we live or we die, we are in Christ and we do what we do for Him.  And to Him we owe all our praise.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory