The Challenge Is Worth It

A friend of mine turned me onto word poems a few years ago. The challenge of picking the word to work off of and forming each line is harder than you might think but it's the challenge that makes the poem worth writing. As in life, the things that come easy to us are hardly ever valued above those things we've labored for. Which is why I think God's grace is such a difficult thing for people to understand and act on. We expect to fight and claw our way out of our shame to earn God's forgiveness. If we haven't suffered for our sin, we feel we don't deserve God's grace.....and really that's the point. We don't deserve God's grace! Never have, never will.

God's plan is that we don't have to suffer for our sin because Jesus took our judgement upon himself on the cross. By his sacrifice, he's paid the penalty for our sin and seperated it from us as far as the east is from the west. He doesn't hold our sin against us because we are redeemed in Jesus. We only need to believe it. It's that simple. Believe. Our human pride may shout, "It can't be that simple!" But really it is. It's just hard. It's hard to believe and admit we don't have control over our lives. It's hard to give a God we can't fully comprehend, explain, or manipulate, authority over our entire existance. It's hard to admit that we are insufficient or lacking in anyway. However, in my experience, the challenge is well worth living the Christian life, believing that God's grace has saved me.


MY SIN
Sorrow, guilt, and regret
Hang over me like
A torrential storm while
My joy drowns in the  
Emptiness that fills my soul.


THE PENITENT SOUL
Forever separated from Your glory, I fall
On my knees crying out “Mercy, Lord, mercy!”
Repentance claims my soul and invites God’s love, His
Grace to wash over and through me, transforming me.
I worship and rejoice in Your Presence, O God
Vanity flees my heart and mind, my soul
Even as I’m robed in Your Righteousness
Never again alone nor fearing the cross.

About the picture
Fichter Fairy Garden (June 2010)