Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

He repays everyone for what they have done;
    he brings on them what their conduct deserves.

• Job 34:11

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

• Galatians 6:7-8

God “will repay each person according to what they have done.”

• Romans 2:6

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

• Romans 6:23

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.

• Ephesians 2:8-9

he does not treat us as our sins deserve
    or repay us according to our iniquities.

• Psalm 103:10

The New Boilerplate

My wife filled a small book with “Angel” on the cover.  It was hidden with a box of crafting things.  On 18 July 2025, I thought I had posted the last of these.  But this little angel book held a prayer, followed by 71 quotes.  So, the “with a little help” series is back in business for a while.  And it will be fun for me.  She did not attribute any of the quotes.  The first quote was from James A. Garfield, the 20^th president of the USA.  The next one was disputed, with some thinking it originated with Teddy Roosevelt and others saying Fred Astaire.  After the prayer, these might be on the lighter side.

Her quote

“You end up as you deserve. In old age you must put up with the face, the friends, the health, and the children you have earned.”

• Judith Viorst

The Discussion

There are elements of this quote that I agree with.  There are elements of this quote that give me great heartburn.

The Scriptures above are three Scriptures each for God giving us what we deserve and not giving us what we deserve.  Note: The quote from Job is near the beginning of Elihu’s diatribe, so we might take that one with a grain of salt.

When it is all over, I want the latter.  I want mercy, not the justice that I deserve.  I want my sins washed away, not held in account against me.

But do I deserve the face that I have?  Yes.  My nose was broken three times – school yard football, organized football but the school did not have enough money for our team to have helmets, and hand-to-hand combat in military training.  Each blow was made by another person, but I put myself in the situation where that was a possibility.

My broken nose makes my sinuses worse, and the CPAP mask never seals perfectly over an imperfect face.

My friends or lack of friends on certain levels is richly deserved.  I had a friend once tell me that I was an acquired taste, but once you learned the real me, I was a good friend.  Ninety-nine percent of the world does not have that much patience.

My health?  Yes.  I could eat better.  I could exercise more.  Sure, I deserve that one.

There are elements of having children that are deserved, but each person makes their own choices.  If they reject God, that is solely on them.  Their environment might have been better in other circumstances, but you deal with what you are dealt.  And when your opinion is that everything bad that ever happened to you was someone else’s fault, then look in the mirror carefully next time.

But, could I have done better?  We all could have done better.

And yes, on this earth, we mostly get what we deserve.

But in the next life, I want Mercy.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory