Today. . .


O Man!

What have you done, that you wake every morning to consume without thanks?  What have you commanded to be built for your pleasure?  All the while forgetting the history that brought you TODAY.

It is God who supplies all the materials you misuse.  Stop and consider.

Yet, I perceive you will change nothing.  Today will be the same as all which came before; all praise to Man and disrespect to God.

Your greedy eye is focused on the possibilities of tomorrow.  With violence you gather.  With violence you retain.  With selfish ambition you laugh and dance with joy.  Yet the day will come when the One you have spurned appears to claim what is His.

You know what is required of you.

And shouldn’t someone speak on behalf of the One who owns all these things?  Shouldn’t the light blaze as the darkness pervades?

The Engine of Peace


I look at what Man has accomplished.  How he has established law, regulation, procedure, and expectations, to force love upon the people for one another.  What I see is that punishment is the motivator.  Look with truth and you will see it also.

If you do what is evil the law will come and take from you.  If you contribute according to the law of the land you will reap what they say is great benefit.

I see how they encourage one another to do good works.  But again, the motivator is gain or severe loss.

Every day, every man wakes knowing that if he does not do what is expected he will lose horribly.  This is not the gospel of Christ.  It is the so-called good news of Man.

This good news of Man is dependent on the resources available.  There’s only so much money in the world.  There’s only so much food.  Politics restrains the gain for all.  And the vast majority find themselves suffering loss as the sun goes down on each day.  Even the so-called winners are exhausted from their efforts.  And there’s no need to itemize the broken families the come from the so-called good news.

In this good news of Man greed must be honed to a fine edge.  Look at the advent of training and implements that has been made available to help.  In all these things, the motivation for adherence comes from outside the man.

You know what’s funny?  With all this trust toward the ability of Man to create peace, the world is no better off. 

What does God say?  “14 . . . if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”  (2 chronicles 7)   This Promise of God does not present itself as a manipulation.  It’s the offer of free and complete help.

Take note of how God strips the strength of greed.  In its place he only requires humility.

This is no empty promise.  But who will take up the mantle and respond?

Pathetic Silence


It makes me sad to look about.
Our cities under siege.
The “dead” in homes,
Lives like drones,
Amazed at what they see.

The Devil comes and takes away.
No words are spoken.
No!

“No way!

If we speak,
He’ll take us too!
Then, tell us what we all should do.
We’ll leave it to the likes of you.”

The bully on the playground
Pounds and pounds and pounds.
Daring those who watch him work
To make a single sound.

Is this the life you want to lead?
Are shadows giving what you need?
Why can’t you see the pitiful plight
Of he one who bleeds and has no fight?

Be silent then!
Your days well spent,
Watching Death on your TV.
The challenge is there in front of you.
The challenge is up to you and me.

See how the gospel is hidden.
Even surely by those who know!
See how the evil one has risen.
Without striking a single blow.

Juxtaposition


How I find my soul longing, from time to time, for the place where the following is not:

The torrent of vulgarities, Lies, hatred, violence, wickedness in all its various forms, Godless gods worshipped by empty Souls, the flood of Sorrow we own from the day we are born, the Hopeless fear of loneliness, the endless oppression of weakness, the constant and frantic gathering for those things we should not have, the ceaseless grappling for knowledge, etc.

In the place I am desiring, all that is good thrives and grows.  In the place I am presently living, everything that is good is referred to as a shame.   The diligent receive vulgar labels.  The unrighteous are heralded as icons of maturity.

I long for a rain of righteous words.  I search for a field of beings whose pure smiles are full of endless Joy.  Here we pay dearly for a simple friendly embrace.  But in this place I have heard of, friendship never ceases.

Here they love you as long as you are profitable.  But love in the place of my heart has no measure or monetary value.

Days turn into weeks, weeks turn to months, months turn into years and  years turn to decades; where the lack of Love begins to wear down the mind.

Let hatred die, as surely it must.  Let the despising isolation fade Into Oblivion.  Let the race for pride fall in mid gait. 

Come Lord Jesus!

? Which of these don’t fit together


What attribute of Christ do I see people needing most?

Godly patience to replace their lethal greed.

Desire for Cleansing


I have noticed that the more familiar I am with the righteousness of God, the more blatant the wickedness of this world appears.

And the more aware of God’s mercy I become, the easier it is to look past the profane.  It’s not as if I don’t see it any longer, but it’s more like I can more easily ignore it.  Like the man who constantly lives with a barrage of flies, you kinda get used to the irritation.

People can say what they want about Lot.  They can ridicule his choice of dwelling.  But I understand what was written about him; how his righteous soul was tormented, day and night, by the wickedness he saw all about him.

How I wish the American church would put away the soft soap gospel, and bring out the bar of lye.