11-7-15 Turn the Other Cheek

³⁸ Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:

³⁹ But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.

Matthew 5:38-39 KJV

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When Jesus said to turn the other cheek,

The world has since ignored it out of hand.

Most people think it makes you look so weak

You’ll fall in line to anyone’s demand.

To turn the other cheek resentfully,

Your indignation makes you anger’s slave.

If you think you are grander morally,

Your haughty pride makes you a moral knave.

When someone strikes you, instantly forgive,

And turn the other cheek with mercy mild.

The Lord’s the only one to judgment give;

Through love you’re free: no sins have you compiled.

So turn the other cheek if you are struck,

And choose the way of grace; you won’t get stuck.

5-7-15 He Hears

But verily God hath heard me;

he hath attended to the voice of my prayer.

Psalm 66:19 KJV

            ~~~~~~~~~~~

My enemies have painted me as vile;

An evil man, a phony hypocrite.

If this is true, could I then God beguile?

Would He then heed my prayers and thus commit?

Yet God has heard me, I who am His slave.

The love He has for me has changed my ways,

For He sent Christ His Son whose life He gave;

He died for all my sins. It’s He I praise!

If I were still the man I used to be,

I would not waste my time to spread the Word.

But my old self is dead on Calvary,

And now I follow Christ, His Spirit’s heard.

            My Father hears my prayers; I am His child.

            He answers every one so clear and mild.

            ~~~~~~~~~~~

 

sonnet #353

3-26-15 Greatest in the Kingdom

The greatest in the kingdom is the least:

A little child without pretentious claim

Who waits until the guests have left the feast

To have the smallest portion all the same.

A little child is humble, kind and shy,

Who lives to hear her Father’s loving call

Then runs into His arms not asking why,

Expecting no reward or gift at all.

The child of God thinks nothing of herself,

Without the selfishness of evil’s sting,

And leaves her own needs high upon the shelf,

Reliant on her God for everything.

            Whoever’s humble as a little child

            Is greatest in the kingdom, meek and mild.

            ~~~~~~~~~~~

Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child,

the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 18:4 KJV

1-31-15 A heritage of the Lord

A parent’s greatest joy should be their child,

A gift from God, creation at its best,

Especially an offspring good and mild

To leave all those who meet her surely blessed.

They love their child before she leaves the womb,

And magnifies it with each breath she takes;

So Jesus loves us ere we come in bloom,

And with the Spirit’s breath we came awake.

When we acknowledge Jesus as our Lord,

Then Heaven cheers our second day of birth;

The Savior’s bliss is this His own reward

To know a part of Him is on the Earth.

The heritage of Christ belongs to those

Who left the cross with Him, the ones He chose.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: 

and the fruit of the womb is his reward.

Psalm 127:3 KJV