Who Can Say?

 

 

I love these rhetorical questions

That we try to shift each day

And somehow continue to behave

In our self-righteous way.

 

Here is an interesting question

Asked by the wisest of men

That when the rest of it is added

Shows how we pretend.

 

Indeed, that is what we do

In our day to day lives

And when we promote our purity

It is nothing but lies.

 

“I have made myself clean,”

That is an absolute win

And even greater still would be,

“I am pure from my sin.”

 

But it is part of a question

Beginning with “who can say…”

And it’s a rhetorical question

Which answers no one, no way.

 

 

And notice its specificity:

It doesn’t say “free from sin”

For in that general regard

It is through Christ that we win.

 

But the pronoun “my”

Speaks of sins that we commit

That in our daily living

May be a cover-up habit.

 

Who can say?

And the answer comes back:

No one, no way

And that is an unalterable fact.

 

None can make himself clean

Or pure from his sin

And if anyone thinks he can

His sight is less than dim.

 

Solomon came upon this

And he was the wisest ever

So, none of us can;

We are not nearly as clever.

 

In Ecclesiastes he reminds us

There’s none righteous on earth

That has continually done good

Since the time of his birth.

 

In Romans 6 and verse 23:

All have sinned and fallen short

Of God’s glory, that is,

We are all of that sort.

 

So that if we say we have no sin

That is a huge lie

Such that if God were human

He would do nothing but sigh.

 

Like a loving parent

That can’t stop a child from lying

But can only sigh at the futility

After several years of trying.

 

No use comparing ourselves

With those we consider beneath,

The Pharisees’ self-righteousness

Caused Christ much grief.

 

We fall short in our actions

We fall short in our minds

And the expressions from our hearts

Are often off line.

 

The heart and the mind

The emotions and the conscience,

All are stained with sin

And require constant repentance.

 

 

None can say…

I have made my heart clean,

I am pure from my sin:

None!  Not one!

 

Stewart Russell © September 1, 2020