In our increasingly secular and materialistic society, there is a gradual softening of the older morality, and in many ways this is a good thing, bringing greater tolerance of and basic equalities to many who were shunned or marginalised. But the message of Jesus is that God is into the smallest detail of our lives. If God is recording everything, good and bad, what hope is there for any of us?
We live today in a throw-away world,
Where mending is replaced by upgrade,
Where inconveniences can be aborted,
And mistakes can be dimmed to fade.
Our love relationships are pick ‘n mix,
As we gather our ex’s like film stars.
Our kids passed from step to step, and
‘Custody’ doesn’t mean prison bars.
Little lies have become white, and
Bigger lies, like sin, explained away;
Conscience replaced by neural fibres;
Moral collusion, the order of the day.
God and religion are openly reviled,
But astrology, crystals, Feng Shui,
Are followed by many folk, thinking
Them selves rational in every way.
~ ~ ~
Not another moaning apologist for
The ‘good old days’ I hear you say?
There’s a lot of good in human life,
And the sun rises, come what may.
Yes of course, you’re so very right!
For God brings all things together,
And He loves us without condition,
So there’s no need to get into a lather.
But can we really be lackadaisical?
A sugar daddy god doesn’t attract.
He loves the sinner but abhors sin,
And Jesus suffering is gruesome fact.
God is into every detail of our lives.
Not as some fault-scoring scrooge,
But with the dizzying love of a parent,
Delighting to have fun with their brood.
We fear His attentions because we have
No grasp of just how precious we are.
The tragedy of Eden is that we hide
From our true friend and heart’s desire.
~ ~ ~
If I walk by on the other side, saying
Someone else will help, or I fail to go
And be there for someone, life goes on,
But I’m diminished – a moral minnow.
If, in the confines of my own mind,
I think bad of someone, but never say
It aloud, I am still the worse for it, and
If repeated, my attractiveness will decay.
There is no such thing as a ‘private sin’,
As if the poison was just confined within.
And no moral bubble, nor sin-splash that
Doesn’t ripple relentlessly to other men.
Everything matters, everything matters,
Because God is right in there, at our core.
We will fall, but His mercy is also relentless,
With new beginnings, now and evermore.