The Source of Our Trouble

 

 

From whence come wars

and fightings among you?

Come they not hence, even of your lusts

that war in your members?

 

The question is asked

Then answered rhetorically,

That is: by another question

In which is the answer-obviously.

 

It doesn’t require rocket science

To show us one’s self,

Just dust off the old Bible

That is lying on the shelf.

 

 

It’s the source of all our problems

In the church and without;

I am not accusing you,

You don’t need to shout.

 

If you really must shout

I suggest you shout at God’s Word,

In any case thereafter,

I’d be convinced you heard.

 

Go to James chapter 4

And read from verse number 1,

If you understand what it says

Then you are not a moron.

 

For while it asks a question

It gives the answer as well

And if you want to dispute it

Then you are not so well read.

 

It is as straightforward

As straightforward can be

And if you still do not get it

You don’t have eyes to see.

 

The source of our trouble

Are the lusts in our members

And until we satisfy ourselves

There is no retreat or surrender.

 

 

The symptoms are our behaviour

On account of our lusts

Hence, the war in our members

And all of the fuss.

 

It all results from self:

Self must be brought under control,

We must not give in to our lusts

But on the Holy Spirit lay hold.

 

From whence come wars

and fightings among you?

Come they not hence, even of your lusts

that war in your members?

 

Stewart Russell © August 25, 2020

 

Second Work of Grace

 

 

Show me from God’s Word

This second work of grace

For I have searched and searched

But have found not a trace.

 

The first work I have found

And this, without a doubt,

For it was very straightforward;

Nothing to work out.

 

But I have a difficulty

With this second work

Though I must tell you up front

I’m no Bible expert.

 

The Spirit witnessed to me

I am a child of God

And having been born again,

I thought this was all.

 

But it seems I am wrong

According to some

And I don’t yet have the Spirit

Or even God’s dear Son.

 

 

I have seen many struggle

Trying to explain this

And however hard they tried

Something they missed.

 

Some call it a filling;

This second work of grace

Giving me a kind of impression

It’s more than a taste.

 

But how would I know

This grace when received?

Is it the same witness of the Spirit

As when I first believed?

 

It’s entire sanctification

Some are heard to say

But while entire, it’s not entire,

Is another way.

 

“You will know for sure

You cannot go wrong,”

The evidence, some people say,

Is speaking in tongues.

 

I cannot remember

Ever speaking in tongues

So, I have never been sanctified

If they are not wrong.

 

However, this I know,

And I know this for sure,

I am a born-again child of God-

No less and no more.

 

 

I have the Spirit’s witness

That I am a child of God

And I have His blessed assurance

Even when I fall.

 

If I have not the Spirit

I do not belong to him

And so, it is crystal clear to me

I am still in my sin.

 

But I thank God today

This is not my case

For I have been wonderfully saved

By His miraculous grace.

 

This same grace that saves

Is also able to keep

As in Jesus, the Shepherd’s vigil

Over each of his sheep.

 

I know of one grace

As in that wonderful song,

It’s the wonderful grace of Jesus

And to Jesus I belong.

 

I dare not split God’s grace

Into a one, two, three

But He who has started this work

Will continue it in me.

 

 

Nothing more definitive

Than a sinner saved by grace,

This I am and this I will always be

Until I see his face.

 

Stewart Russell © June 9, 2024

 

A Fool and His Money

 

 

 

“A fool and his money…”

But how did he come by it?

Did he earn his money?

Was it by merit?

 

“A fool and his money…”

Sounds kind o’ strange to me,

I’d really like to know

How he got his money.

 

“A fool and his money…”

I heard this at school,

I did not give it much thought

Perhaps then I was a fool.

 

But having thought about it

It suddenly struck me

That at some point in time

A fool had money.

 

I know that there is more

Don’t think me absurd,

I’ll add those words in a moment

To complete the proverb.

 

But for right now

I’ve been beaten to the draw,

Like a fowl, “a fool and his money”

Has stuck in my craw.

 

“A fool and his money…”

Where did he get it from?

By now you must really think

I am a clown.

 

 

“A fool and his money…”

This sounds so weird,

It is somewhat like Blackbeard

Having no beard.

 

“A fool and his money…

Are soon parted,”

How they got together at first

Is where we started.

 

I will tell you this,

Then most of us are fools,

Soon parted from our money

Is our daily rule.

 

The little that we get

Definitely goes in a hurry,

Hence, out of necessity we are fools

Soon parted from our money.

 

From paycheck to paycheck

From pension to pension,

The only thing that we get to keep

Is the apprehension.

 

The apprehension re the bill

We defaulted on paying

And the misapprehension of thinking

We’d fix it by delaying.

 

The misapprehension

Of borrowing to pay a loan

Helping that very poor loan-shark

Keep more meat on his bone.

 

I had dared not done this

When I was still at school,

Those erudite English teachers

Would have called me a fool.

 

The meaning they wanted

Was quite straightforward

But to try to totally apply it today

Would be backward.

 

 

Easy come, easy go,

Hence the fool’s easy money,

Having not earned it in the first place

Why should he keep any?

 

Easy come, easy go

Perhaps easy will come again,

Yours truly could do with a little more

To help ease his pain.

 

A fool and his money

Are soon parted

Hopefully, we’ve come a long way

From where we started.

 

Stewart Russell © March 23, 2024