What Determines What?

 

 

How do you measure

What determines what?

What are the essentials

And what are not?

 

What is your philosophy

As you live day by day?

Is it based on the Biblical Book?

Is it the Christ-like way?

 

Many purport

To be grounded in the Bible

But their everyday living

Is not of God’s people.

 

 

So, I ask you again:

What determines what?

What are your essentials

And what are not?

 

I’d like to introduce to you

Three benchmarks,

And as for me I find these

A good place to start.

 

The essentials are first!

The Bible is clear on these,

Then there are the non-essentials

And negotiables, if you please.

 

Three terms of reference

That determine my behavior

As I relate to others

And especially my Saviour.

 

 

Salvation in no other

Than in the Living Word,

He is the Lord, Jesus Christ!

By now you have heard.

 

Not a prosperity Gospel

Where money is the key

But the salvation of the born-again

For all eternity.

 

Saved from sin’s morass

Not to be saved in our sin,

Thus, to live an evidential lifestyle

That depicts Christ within.

 

Following the biblical dictates

As lead by the Holy Spirit,

Honouring God in all things

Must be our daily habit.

 

Fulfilling the law of Christ

As we help each other

Cognizant that all the born-again

Are sisters and brothers.

 

Putting God first

As becometh the Christ child

And being witnesses of him

As the Holy Spirit decides.

 

The foregoing are essentials

According to the Word,

They are not to be negotiated

Or ever deferred.

 

They transcend denomination

Ethnicity and time

And stand in direct contrast

To today’s immoral slime.

 

Very unlike non-essentials

With which we are obsessed

And far more critically important

Than our negotiable quest.

 

Now take your religious beliefs

And classify them if you may,

Ensuring you major on the essentials

And let charity be your way

 

 

The essentials determine

What one’s negotiables should be

While non-essentials and negotiables

Are pretty much at sea.

 

Some, today I am told,

Are all about negotiables,

Everything is up for discussion

And nothing is essential.

 

There goes a ship

With neither rudder nor oar

And in this mass ocean of humanity

Shipwreck is sure.

 

What determines what?

Here is that question again,

It matters my brother, my sister,

Essentials don’t change.

 

Stewart Russell © July 3, 2022

 

We Get to Choose

 

 

The title does not mean

This is really so

But it appears to me

This is where some people go.

 

But get to choose what?

That’s a pertinent question,

By this I mean

The contents of their religion.

 

Maybe we can call it

The carry-over from the Old,

If it fits our agenda

Then, that is our goal.

 

From the Old Testament

To the New Testament

And some even express,

The Old is no not relevant.

 

That is a sad mistake

For anyone to make,

I once held that position

But it’s no longer my take.

 

 

There are things in the old

That are no longer required,

Jesus fulfilled them

The moment he expired.

 

Thereafter,

When he executed his will,

He told us what was required

And that reading stands still.

 

Most are au fait

With the required fundamentals

But many are also

An opportunistic people.

 

Then they are some

That are steeped in tradition,

They dare not release members

To their own volition.

 

You can call it enslavement

If you so desire

But tradition says do

What the Word doesn’t require.

 

 

The Pharisees enforced

Over six hundred laws

And boasted about keeping them-

Spare me the applause.

 

They pushed the letter

Christ introduced the spirit,

The latter spoke to transformation

The former had little merit.

 

One from a stony heart

That showed no mercy,

The other out of a pure conscience

Displaying liberty.

 

The former, regarding giving,

Is a ritual that is enforced,

The latter, a joyous commitment

As a matter of course.

 

I mean cheerful giving

Knowing we can’t out give God

And not the kind we show off

Hoping someone will applaud.

 

A sabbath rest in Christ

That is truly a rest,

That is continuously observed

Even when working our hardest.

 

Not a specific day

Be it Saturday or Sunday,

For those that we accused

We behave in the same way.

 

But doing good for our friends

And our enemies too,

Once we see the need

And it it’s within our purview.

 

Bearing one another’s burdens

Thus, fulfilling the Law of Christ,

Offering ourselves to him

As a living sacrifice.

 

We get to choose

What is honest and pure,

Not a gamut of rituals that suits us

And the rest ignore.

 

Stewart Russell © June 2020.