The Call

What is it that you worship?
You say you worship Christ,
Or is He just your idol,
Who is not in your life?
You wipe Him off on Sunday,
While praying for yourself,
Consumption is your worship,
Your Jesus-on-the-shelf.
But if you are a Christian,
Then why does it not show?
And where is your compassion,
For those who live below?
There is no closet Christian,
But wear the cross with pride.
If Christ is yet your master,
Proclaim you are His bride!
And answer when He’s calling,
And preach Him to the lost,
And work to reap the harvest,
Oh! come and bear your cross!
Release your coward passions,
Say, ‘I surrender all!’
Arise and take His standards,
And follow when He calls.
For He will give you power,
To do what He will show,
Do not cast back your shoulder,
But take the plow and go!

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Matthew 8-9: Healing

Behold the winter withers soon,
For see, the herald flower blooms,
To show the rebirth to ensue,
The harbinger of God’s redemption.

The advent of His coming grace,
When He appeared here, face to face,
He healed the captive and abased,
Those in the curse of sin’s affliction.

For He had come to heal the sick:
The blind and filthy in their sin,
Who had the faith to call to Him,
Through them rebuking man’s dissension.

He healed with His authority,
The King of earth and sky and sea,
But full of human empathy,
And touching people in compassion.

He healed then to restore the lost,
And to restore from sinning’s cost,
The reason, too, He took His cross:
The bonds of sinful curse unfashion.

For He has born our grief and pain,
To kill the curse was why He came,
Restoring sinners in His name,
To consummate in full redemption!

Matthew 15: Canaanite Empathy

It was her test, her Rubicon,
Her constitution put to test.
Her dwelling then was Sidon,
Her dearest daughter was possessed.

And so she sought and found the Lord,
And after Him she cried and called,
“But save my daughter, speak the word!”
But He won’t answer, not at all.

And His disciples urged Him them,
To make her stop her noise and leave.
He turned to her, with words thus grim,
“But I was sent to Israel’s sheep.”

“For is it right to take men’s bread,
“And feed it to the little dogs?”
This ethnic slur thus scorning said,
As if with words He seeks to flog.

Could any answer such a quip?
His followers or scribes, perhaps?
Ah! none but her! With trembling lip,
“But dogs may even eat the scraps.”

It was her test, and it was done.
But the disciples now were taught.
Thus was her humble plea first shunned,
To show them how to act towards God.

Would we then have humility,
To plead with love and empathy?
Or else assume, unworthily,
And thus ignore the Gentile’s plea?