Martyrs

 

 

Quite an interesting word

Is the word martyr

And whenever we think of it,

To death we refer.

 

A martyr is someone

Who is only a memory

Who, having died for a cause,

Is dead and buried.

 

The ultimate sacrifice

In the giving of one’s life

Just like most of Jesus’ disciples

In that 1^st Century strife.

 

Martyred, we say,

Resulting from the noun

As these gallant Gospel apostles

Their lives laid down.

 

 

Thus, martyrs they were

For the cause of Christ

When they offered up their lives

As the ultimate sacrifice.

 

In a sense, I suggest,

The believer is a martyr too,

And I refer to the born again

Like me and you.

 

A martyr in resolve,

Should the occasion arise,

That we denounce Jesus Christ

Or meet our demise.

 

 

As it stands right now

We are a living sacrifice

That should be prepared to die

For the sake of Christ.

 

There are martyrs in fact

And martyrs in spirit:

The former are already gone on

And the latter yet to exit.

 

As it is clearly stated

In Romans 12 and verse 1:

I will quote the very verse

And then I’ll be gone.

 

I beseech you therefore, brethren,

By the mercies of God,

That ye present your bodies a living sacrifice,

Holy, acceptable unto God,

Which is your reasonable service.

 

Stewart Russell © April 21, 2025

 

 

Unworthy of God’s Love

 

Unworthy of God’s Love 

What does this mean?

I wish to take a moment or two

To explain my blog’s theme.

I am sure you have seen it

And perhaps have wondered why

So I will give you an answer

On which you can rely.

Let me direct your attention

To Matthew chapter twenty-six,

There some people 

Tried to put Jesus in a fix.

An expensive ointment

Was lavished on the Christ,

Some took offense

At such a great sacrifice.

They frowned on the incident

And viewed it with distaste

And publicly made known

It was a colossal waste.

Well, Jesus chastised them

For their shortsighted view

And proceeded to enlighten them

On what is worthy and true.

This was a memorial 

To his upcoming death

When he would undergo

His most challenging test.

A death he would die 

That should have been our own,

A death he would die

And for our sins atone.

A death we should have died 

Not the Son of God

But he took our place

And that we should applaud. 

  

We did not merit

The blood that he shed,

There was no worth in us

For the fount that he bled.

We should have been crucified

But Jesus was in our stead

And secured our salvation

When he rose from the dead.

Such outpouring of love

We could never deserve

But such was the love of Jesus 

That some consider it absurd.

For scarcely for a righteous man

Would one even give his life

But God gave His Son for us 

Vile and wretched and full of strife.

So unworthy of God’s love

So unworthy of Christ’s death,

So unworthy of heaven’s reward

And entering into God’s rest.

The worthiness of God’s Son

Was imputed to us,

The only worth in any of His children

Is in the worth of Jesus.

Worms we all are 

Outside of Jesus Christ,

Thank God for our Redeemer

And his vicarious sacrifice.

The blood of the entire world

Would not have sufficed,

It took God through His Son

To provide the ultimate sacrifice.

Hence you see now 

Why I have chosen this theme,

It is only in Jesus Christ

That one has any esteem.

Stewart Russell © May 2018