Vice vs Virtue

 

 

Vice versus Virtue

Is like evil against good,

Light opposing darkness,

Should not and should.

 

These are the tensions

In our present time,

These are the actors

On the stage of our mind.

 

The apostle Paul

Sets it up really neat

Go to Romans chapter 7

And there have a peep.

 

When I want to do good

Evil presents itself:

Vice stemming virtue

Ruining spiritual health.

 

The sins of the flesh

Versus the fruit of the Spirit:

The Spirit wants control

But sin is my habit.

 

Who will deliver me

From this bed of vice?

If only I yield to the Spirit

All would be nice.

 

The whatsoever things

Like truth and purity

That build a good report

And the things that are lovely.

 

These are the virtues

We should concentrate on

And say to the vices

Vices be gone!

 

Vices like unforgiveness

That stagnates the soul

And suppresses spiritual growth

Like the common cold.

 

Vices like bitterness

That we hold in our mind

Spoiling good relationships

Most of the time.

 

Greed and avarice

Selfishness regarding wealth

The proverbial altar on which

We sacrifice health.

 

Envy and strife

And a poisonous philosophy

Pulling down others

In fits of jealousy.

 

Compare the above

With the following virtues

And tell me, if you will,

Which one is your view?

 

Love, joy and peace

Long suffering and goodness,

A life lived above the law

Of temperance and meekness.

 

For they that are Christ’s

Crucify the vices of the flesh

And the evidential witness

Is a life of righteousness.

 

Vice versus Virtue:

Are you in darkness or light?

Which of the two is winning

In your spiritual fight?

 

I trust it is the latter,

The former spells strife!

Strife is a death option,

Why not choose life?

 

Stewart Russell © February 15, 2022

 

Tolerance

 

 

A very misunderstood word

To most if not all

And the concept even worse

Is this term so called.

 

In these pluralistic times

Tolerance is on every lip

Yet the more we publicize it

The more it eludes or grip.

 

Its definition is very narrow

And particularly individualized,

It is defined by person or group

I have come to realize.

 

What tolerance means to one

Is totally different from another

And, as a matter of fact,

Therein lies the bother.

 

Its opposite is intolerance

But then again, you knew

Yet tolerance is only regarded

When it comes to your own view.

 

Tolerance is now synonymous

With self and selfishness,

My position must be tolerated

For my position is the best.

 

Tolerance is one way

It is not about to and fro,

Don’t even mention reciprocation

Tolerance is a one-way flow.

 

You accuse me of intolerance

Yet you do not tolerate me,

I may be guilty but so are you

I know you won’t agree.

 

 

Tolerance is not in agreement

But agreeing to disagree,

Doing so in an agreeable way

And not in hostility.

 

It is more about persons

Not necessarily about ideas,

So you can still be my friend

Though I don’t see it your way.

 

Tolerance is now a misnomer

The practice is now extinct

And some will even take your life

If you so much as blink.

 

If you call me intolerant

Perhaps, you are as well,

Since it takes on to know one

I am sure you can tell.

 

I am not going to celebrate

Your difference in opinion with me

But we can share mutual respect

And disagree agreeably.

 

If two agree in everything

One might be a fool,

Afraid to have a personal view

He is the other’s tool.

 

Tolerance in disagreement

Means a door is still open,

Once dialogue is possible

Tolerance is a token.

 

Stewart Russell © October 2019

 

They Walk Among Us

 

 

Uppers and Downers

Do you know who these are?

They walk among us

Both near and far.

 

Everyone has a philosophy

Whether expressed or not,

Some live by it daily

While others talk a lot.

 

For some the glass is half empty

For others it is half full,

Some are particularly discreet

While some are raging bulls.

 

For some the glass is empty

Some don’t even have a glass,

They are many and varied

But they are found in either class.

 

Some people are mostly up

While some are mostly down,

Some are neither of these two

Not many of these around.

 

 

Some have nothing good to say

Others: nothing bad,

Some are sad about everything

Others: mostly glad.

 

What you do most frequently

Determines who you are,

Whether an upper or downer

You are your own star.

 

Selfishness is the default

For all of human nature,

A quick look at the world around…

And there! You get the picture.

 

But within that general scope

There is a continuum,

It’s like a ladder, if you please,

Where we move up and down.

 

An upper will lift others up

A downer will pull them down,

And they that are neither up nor down…

Let’s call them the circus clowns.

 

 

What is your philosophy?

Where on the ladder do you fit?

Are you pulling up or pulling down?

Or would you rather quit?

 

There is a positive philosophy

A poisonous one as well,

Both are at work within us

Ever since our fore parents fell.

 

The devil fuels the downers

Jesus is the lifter-up,

The hope for them at the bottom

And also for those at the top.

 

You may think you’re not included

Because you’re neither up nor down,

But he is the hope for the middle

Yes, Jesus includes the clown.

 

Yes, they all walk among us

And we among them too,

That’s the world in which we live

And believe me; it is true.

 

Stewart Russell © September 2019

Understanding All

 

All is an interesting word

That we all confuse,

So much so, I must say

That I am often amused.

 

The word all is puzzling

If you see what I mean,

It has different meanings

That it is what I glean.

 

If it is something I want

All is understood,

But if I must give up all

That is not so good.

 

So that all is defined

Re giving and receiving

And means different things

In our everyday dealings.

 

It is very unreasonable

When I cannot have all,

But it is small mindedness

When the all is your call. 

 

All and selfishness

Go hand in hand

So that in relation to self

We can all understand.

 

To give all is difficult

But to receive all, not so,

On one hand, all is my friend

On the other, all is my foe.

 

Jesus gave up all

And that all we appreciate,

But the all he expects of us

We continually berate.

 

Jesus is so unreasonable

To expect all from me,

And besides, I am human

I am sure he can see.

 

It is not as easy, you see,

When required to give all

As it is in receiving

When that all is our call.

 

Please note!

 

We have a difficulty

Understanding all

But God has

All understanding.

 

Stewart Russell © October 2019

 

We Live What We Believe

 

We live what we believe

That is my view,

Stay with me a moment

Let me prove that to you.

 

Two main Worldviews:

I guess by now you know,

Creationists and Evolutionists

At times, a little mixture or so.

 

The issue of accountability

Is in the human domain,

Animals don’t regard this

My friend, do not be insane.

 

Animals move instinctively

It’s the survival of the fittest,

They kill only when threatened

With humans it’s not like this.

 

Let us look a little

At the idea of selfishness:

“Of all my mother’s children

I like myself the best.”

 

Number one is the “I”

All the rest line up behind,

It is me and my important others

Understand we are one of a kind.

It is down to my worldview

To which position I hold dear,

My belief determines my living

My goal is to make that clear.

 

If I believe I came by chance

Then chances are I’ll do anything,

Life is for living and merriment

By George, let me have my fling.

 

Let’s eat drink and be merry

For tomorrow we die,

Death beckons; that’s the end.

With Death we must comply.

 

You are fortunate to be here

Considering it’s by blind chance

So do all that you can do

To make Number One advance.

 

No accountability after this life

At the last breath that’s the end,

So end it if it gets too hard

There’s no hell to which to descend.

 

No judgment to anticipate

For after all there is no God,

Nothing and no one to fear

For the grim reaper ends it all.

 

But that is only one side

There is another side to consider,

If there’s an afterlife to come

Then death does not truly deliver.

 

If I am accountable to Someone

For the way I live this life

This would influence my behavior

To abstain from evil and strife.

 

Hence the one that believes in God

Lives the life that God dictates,

By faith he comes to know the Christ

And his former life forsakes.

 

His standing is in Christ’s perfection

Though his state is one of progress,

He stands on the account of Jesus

And God’s word to this attests.

 

Not in the righteousness of the law

But in the righteousness of Christ:

Such righteousness he avails to us

Through his redeeming sacrifice.

 

The life of the born-again

Conforms to the image of Christ,

He practises what he believes

Though his good works don’t suffice.

 

It’s not his works that saves him

But these works are the result

Of God’s glorious salvation

And not to be confused with a cult.

 

So we live out what we believe

I hope this clearly came out

And even those who don’t believe

Practise such without a doubt.

 

Stewart Russell © January 2019

 

 

The Four Deceptive D’s

I know that some will disagree

And with this, I have no problem

But before you do, read right through,

This is not a referendum.

There are four D’s that bother me

Especially when used together,

In recent times their use has decreased

But for me, it is still a bother.

Their use display some selfishness

Along with some arrogance too,

Some may deem it “praying in faith”

But for me, that is a dim view.

These four D’s I will now introduce

Desire, Demand, Declare, Decree,

If you take offense right away

I trust in the end you will agree.

Read on is all I ask of you

Please read on to the very end,

And if at the end you don’t agree

Be assured you are still my friend.

Desire is what we feel we want

And there is nothing wrong with this

But all too often in our selfishness

There is quite a lot we miss.

From Desire to Demand

The rolling out of human nature,

What we desire we must definitely get

And so we put God in the picture.

Yes we pray it too

To God, we make our demand

And by faith, we approach His throne

As though He is our magic wand.

Confess and possess, that is faith,

Walk right into your miracle,

This daring delusion of the mind

Certainly is not a Bible principle.
  

“Put it in the atmosphere!”

Hence the notion of Declare!

The ideology of "believe you have it"

Thus rejecting all doubts and fear.

Just one more “D” to employ

And this process complete,

Now Decree as a king would do

And later, this same prayer repeat.

Do you see what I mean?

Desire, Demand, Declare, Decree

When we pray like this

We disrespect the Almighty.

We are advised to wait on God

To leave the matter in His hand,

To trust in Him whatever befall

And simply do what He commands.

In such a case we have His peace

And not necessarily what we ask,

He determines what is best for us

And this truth we need to grasp.

So when you pray or even preach

Remember, God is in control,

Desire you may, but don’t Demand

Whatever position you hold.

Declare and Decree, please omit

That is God’s special domain,

To think He puts such in human hands

Is to think as one insane.

I trust by now you see

What I have been trying to say,

Sometimes in an effort to impress

We clearly go out of the way.

Keep it simple when you pray

And follow the tenets of the Word,

God is about His glory and our good

To think otherwise is absurd.

Stewart Russell © May 2019