Descriptive and Prescriptive

 

 

Do not confuse these two

Regarding the Holy Word,

Because Judas hanged himself,

We don’t have to concur.

 

Descriptive is the narrative;

Prescriptive is the cure,

It’s the two great commandments

We must apply more.

 

A misapplied descriptive

Can be rather dangerous

Particularly if we try to apply it

In our frenzied rush.

 

Like "breaking the Bible"

For our daily devotion

And then without due thought

Deciding on an action.

 

 

 

Judas hanged himself:

Go thou and do likewise:

That you do, do so quickly:

Thus, your demise.

 

Three scriptural texts:

All three unrelated,

Regarding the mere descriptive

Do not be fixated.

 

 

Do not a doctrine build

On biblical one-offs,

These are mostly descriptive:

Not treatment for a cough.

 

It is somewhat trite

Like a denominational fight

Between Mudites and Non-Mudites

Lacking spiritual insight.

 

Two denominations

Based on how Jesus healed:

Both were blind to the message

That was being revealed.

 

 

With mud, one sect argued

Without, the other opposed,

Neither was open to the other;

They were both closed.

 

 

Here is another example

That is: speaking in tongues,

What again had been descriptive

Was interpreted wrong.

 

It became prescriptive

For receiving the Holy Spirit

And this for a Spirit-filled saint

Is now become an edict.

 

Love ye one another

Is certainly prescriptive

But how David loved Jonathan

Is rather descriptive.

 

Herein is the difference,

Understand this much,

For whether with mud or without,

It is Jesus’ healing touch.

 

Stewart Russell © March 12, 2025

 

The Family “IGHT”

 

 

Don’t give up your right

Without a fight

Agitate for it

With all your might

 

Remember your sight

Is as good as your light

One without the other

Is none too bright

 

Oft in the night

Will come your plight

To work in the day

Will bring delight

 

Better to have foresight

With little light

But not much doing

Without insight

 

One may have sight

Another light

But both are needed

During the night

 

Faith is foresight

Given spiritual light

Without it

There’s much affright

 

Faith in the light

And fear in the night

Both appear

To be a blight

 

 

One has sight

Another has light

But neither can see

Without insight

 

Are you forthright?

Feel it’s airtight?

It’s by God’s Spirit

Not by might

 

In a plight?

Don’t know what’s right?

Trust God

He has great foresight

 

Seems all is right

With my sight

Thank God today

For His glorious light

 

 

I had great delight

With the family “IGHT”

If I missed one

That was an oversight

 

Stewart Russell © March 2018

 

The Senses

 

 

Humans have five senses

And sometimes six,

Six in the case of women

Placing men in a fix.

 

Women win arguments

Almost every time,

They use their sixth sense

Leaving men behind.

 

Men would present the facts

But the women still disagree,

There is this feeling they have

Call it extra-sensory.

 

I’ve lost many a battle

With my darling wife

And I am beginning to learn

I can’t win such a strife.

At least five senses we share

And that’s a plus,

Developing the sixth

I don’t consider a must.

 

Hearing and seeing,

These are so great

That to lose them both

Would be a terrible fate.

 

Smelling and tasting

Hand in hand they go,

If the food smells good

Taste goes with that flow.

 

Smell activates

The salivary glands

And when that doesn’t happen

The food tastes bland.

 

The fifth is touch

It’s a wonderful sensation,

It has spurted on

Many an infatuation.

 

It can get one in trouble

With the opposite sex,

It can bring on pleasure

Or it can make one vex.

 

Touch is the sense

We take most for granted

But it is the one with which

 We are most enchanted.

 

Of the other four

It is perhaps closest to taste,

When eating our food

It is an additional grace.

 

It helps with the taste

 But also with the texture

And makes a great dining experience,

You’ve gotten the picture.

 

Seeing is the one

I would most hate to lose,

Of course, I wouldn’t like it

If I had to choose.

 

They are all important

In the roles that they play

And the others are sharpened

When one is taken away.

 

A blind man hears better

I am sure you have heard,

You can ask any blind man,

Don’t take my word.

 

Taste would be rotten

If there were no smell,

You don’t have to ask a blind man

I am sure you can tell.

 

If I had to lose one

And I mean if I had to,

I’d reluctantly choose hearing

Tell me, won’t you?

 

I say reluctantly

On account of music,

Being unable to appreciate it.

Would give me a fit.

 

Of the five senses

Seeing appears to be tops,

However, we must thank God

For all the senses we’ve got.

 

Stewart Russell © 2020