7-26-15 Diligence

⁵ And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;

⁶ And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;

⁷ And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

⁸ For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁹ But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.

¹⁰ Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:

2 Peter 1:5-10 KJV

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If you would come to know of Christ our King,

Then work with diligence these attributes:

Keep faith so strong it stands through anything,

And build your virtue as an absolute.

 

Increase in knowledge of the scriptured word,

Conduct with temperence your words and ways,

Be patient to endure all trials incurred,

And strive toward godliness without delays.

 

With kindness treat your brother as yourself,

And move with charity in all you do.

Without these things you’re blind upon a shelf,

Forgetting what Christ’s death has done for you.

 

            Give diligence to make your calling sure

            And you will never fall as immature.

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sonnet #417

7-3-15 Secret Faults

Who can understand his errors?

Cleanse thou me from secret faults.

Psalm 19:12 KJV

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The times that we meander from the Lord

Cannot be counted with our mortal mind.

No matter how we keep our virtue stored

The thieves of sin get in and steal us blind.

Some vain and shameful thoughts just can’t be stopped,

And oh, the words we wish we could take back!

Tis easier to have the ocean mopped

Than to recall the times we’ve gone off track.

Dear God, forgive us of our many sins,

The endless march of wrongs we perpetrate.

Your Grace, sufficient done, our prayer begins

With faith upon the cross to set it straight.

We can’t remember all the sins we’ve done.

Please cleanse us of our faults, Lord, through the Son.

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sonnet #404

10-25-14 Think On These Things

Avoid a pack of lies like rabid hounds,

And seek all truth among the wolves of life;

Dishonesty first stalks and then surrounds,

So kill it with the facts just like a knife.

Injustice is a bully bound with hate

But fairness is a friend that’s true and strong;

Don’t let corruption fight and desecrate,

Let authenticity make right from wrong.

Unsightly things dig in just like a briar

But loveliness caresses heart and mind.

The wrong influence rakes and stabs like wire

A good report from friends is smooth and kind.

If there be any virtue, any praise,

Just think upon these things and all their ways.

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Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest,

whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure,

whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report;

if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise,

think on these things.

Philippians 4:8 KJV