Charity in All Three

 

 

In essentials: unity

In non-essentials: liberty

In all things: charity

 

Two cannot walk together

Except they be agreed,

Neither should we yoke a mule

With a fast running steed.

 

Two at different speeds

Cannot walk together,

Neither will keep the other’s company

In any kind of weather.

 

The foregoing scenarios

Speak to the fundamental,

Hence the strength of our unity

Must hang on the essential.

 

What are the essentials?

On what must we agree?

The undiluted Gospel of salvation

That in God’s Word we see.

 

 

Summed up in John 3:16

For God so loved He gave…

Thus, redeeming the repentant sinner

From the clutches of the Knave.

 

That Jesus came and died

Must indeed be an essential,

And that he rose up from the dead

Is an indisputable fundamental.

 

That there is only one God

And only one path that leads to Him:

Meaning there is absolutely one way

That we can be saved from sin.

 

Jesus is that way,

He is also the truth and life

And unless a man believes in him,

He is forever in sin’s strife.

 

The Word of God is our manual,

No other book even comes near

And whenever we peruse its pages,

We must do so with godly fear.

 

Reverencing the Holy Spirit

That brings enlightenment

To the born-again believer

And to the genuinely repentant.

 

Yes, in essentials: unity

Absolutely no compromise

And be aware of the counterfeiter

That comes in alluring disguise.

 

In non-essentials: liberty-

Judge not another on these,

However, cause not a brother to stumble

Is top of the charitable pleas.

 

Focus not on the “do-nots”

Rather, focus on the “do’s”

And be patient with one another

As God has been with you.

 

The “do-nots” are alluring,

Like Eve, we wonder, “Why not?”

Like Eve, we fall headlong

And trouble becomes our lot.

 

Quite enough non-essentials:

Discuss but don’t quarrel,

The enemy loves divisiveness

And in disunity he revels.

 

 

 

In all things: charity

Yes, charity in all three:

In essentials, non-essentials and all things

There must be charity.

 

Charity conquers all,

It is the evidence to the world

Of every born-again believer

That walks in God’s Holy Word.

  

It’s the hallmark of the faith-

The unifying trend

That says to all and sundry,

We will be faithful to the end.

 

In essentials: unity

In non-essentials: liberty

In all things: charity

Yes, charity in all three.

 

Stewart Russell © September 27, 2020

 

A Little Lamb

 

 

I may not be much

For I am just a lamb

But Jesus identified with me

In salvation’s plan.

 

In that manger scene

I was very present

And I watched his father Joseph

Over him bent.

 

None shoo me away

On that eventful night

When into that animal stable

Came the Light.

 

Born of a virgin

In dire circumstances,

Regarding a manger birth of a king

What are the chances?

 

None I would suppose

But I witnessed it all,

Yes, that “King of kings” baby boy

Was the Son of God.

 

The animals all stood

Like they understood

That in the presence of Royalty

They also should.

 

I humbly stood too

Though just a little lamb

For that remarkable nativity scene

Was a wonderful plan.

 

 

 

Right there, was the Lamb

That would be slain

And it was for this very purpose

That he came.

 

The lamb of God

That takes away sin!

I was there in that manger scene

To see it begin.

 

Just a little lamb

Not as a sacrificial offering

But as a most unlikely invited guest

To watch grace unfolding.

 

God’s grace unfolding

In the advent of His Son

In time to fulfill a certain animal type

Of which I was one.

 

The spotless lamb

That takes away the sin

Of every single repentant sinner

That comes to him.

 

Stewart Russell © December 17, 2025